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PUSHING THE 
WORLD ALONG 

A Series of Sermons 



By 
GEORGE P. RUTLEDGE 




Cincinnati 
The Standard Publishing Company 



Copyright, 1915 A 

The Standard Publishing Company ^ *i*5j iP 



M 28 1916 

^:i,A420579 






To a Memory 



Contents 



PAGB 

I. 

Pushing This Old World Along 7 

II. 
Preparing to Meet God in This World 17 

III. 
The Faith 25 

IV. 
Hope 33 

V. 
Prayer 40 

VI. 

Christ's Supremacy 50 

VII. 
Our Indebtedness 58 

VIII. 
The Larger Life 67 

IX. 

Mission of the Christian Life 78 

5 



6 CONTENTS 

PAGE 

X. 

The Unshaken Life 88 

XI. 

The Law and the Gospel 97 

XII. 
Beautiful People 109 

XIII. 
Near-sighted People 117 

XIV. 
Hunting Expeditions 126 

XV. 
Cost and Remuneration 133 

XVL 
The American Ballot 141 

XVIL 
The Immortality of This Life 149 

XVIII. 

Replenishing the Fires 158 

XIX. 
A New Year's Meditation 167 



1. 

PUSHING THIS OLD WORLD ALONG 

"For precept must be upon precept, precept upon 
precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and 
there a little."— Isa. 28: 10. 

In round figures, the written history 
of our race embraces six thousand years. 
And from the beginning, people in each 
generation have felt the responsibility of 
pushing the world along. The shirkers 
have always been numerous. But the 
workers have been earnest. Hence grad- 
ual and perpetual progress. 

Years that can scarcely be calculated 
stretch between the acorn falling into 
the ground and the mighty oak resisting 
the storm. Likewise, centuries and dec- 
ades of centuries measure the progress 
of appliances and institutions that are 
to-day marvelous in our sight 

The piece of iron bound to the end 
of a crooked stick of wood is now the 
plow of many furrows; the first crude 
knife is the largest machine-shop in the 



8 f>USHING THE WORLD ALONG 

world; and the cave-room with a torch 
stuck in the wall is the electrically light- 
ed, steam-heated, elevator-equipped pal- 
ace. 

It would be interesting, if we had the 
time, to trace modes of travel — on land, 
over sea, and through the firmament — 
back to their inception, and to rehearse 
the history of the printing-press, our 
methods of transmitting messages and 
other achievements in what we call the 
realm of invention. 

Every phase of our modern life is an 
evolution, reaching back through the cen- 
turies. Such benefactors as Edison are 
not inventors — they are enlargers of 
ideas. And the ideas they have enlarged 
were wrought upon by men of genius in 
all the preceding generations. 'There is 
nothing new under the sun.'' What we 
call the new is the old, more revealed, 
made larger or given greater power. And 
the same statement could be made con- 
cerning nations, educational accomplish- 
ments and all the institutions in which 
the life of the world throbs. 

God has been in all the world move- 



PUSHING THIS OLD WORLD ALONG 9 

ments, using the men adapted to certain 
kinds of service as they yielded them- 
selves to his plans. ''Who is willing to 
consecrate his service this day unto the 
Lord?" has been asked of each genera- 
tion from the first to the present — ^not 
only in the sphere of religion, but in all 
spheres of world progress. The ener- 
getic and conscientious of all the ages 
have heeded the call, and with their 
shoulders at the wheel the world has 
gone forward. 

Patience is the balance-wheel of 
progress. 

"Endurance is the crowning quality, 
And patience all the passion of great hearts." 

'Trecept upon precept, precept upon pre- 
cept; line upon line, line upon line; here 
a little, and there a little." This has al- 
ways been the policy of God's plans, and 
his faithful servants — the truly great of 
each generation — have been content to 
apply it. The selfish and lethargic have 
stood in the way and the impatient have 
scofifed, but the faithful have moved 
steadily on in the performance of duty. 
And alongside other world move- 



10 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

ments and in precisely the same way, our 
religion has progressed. It, too, like 
electricity, as the world discovers and 
applies it, is an evolution. During the 
old dispensations, the men who yielded 
themselves to its propagation were used 
of God. And in the fullness of times and 
according to prophecy. One came who 
re-established the system upon a perma- 
nent basis, then left it for the world to 
discover and apply. 

The Christian religion, like the powers 
of nature, has depended upon the activity 
of consecrated men and women in each 
generation, and this will be the program 
to the end. 

The forces of nature, misunderstood 
and erroneously applied, have frequently 
wrought disaster. And likewise has the 
religion of Christ. The fact that, when 
misdirected, it has resulted in the great- 
est calamities that have befallen nations 
proves that it is the greatest dynamic in 
the hands of men. To employ another 
figure, the Bible is a sharp, two-edged 
sword. Its purpose is the destruction of 
unrighteousness. But when ignorantly 



PUSHING THIS OLD WORLD ALONG 11 

and improperly handled by the human 
race, it is as a knife in the hands of a 
child. The church has repeatedly grasped 
the blade of this sword instead of the 
hilt, and the blood she has drawn from 
her own veins makes crimson the pages 
of history. 

The plan of the ages is better under- 
stood now than ever before, but it has 
not yet been fully discovered. The 
power of the gospel message is univer- 
sally admitted, but it is not universally 
applied — largely because it is not fully 
comprehended. Were the gospel thor- 
oughly understood and applied as origi- 
nally intended — and as it will eventually 
be — there would be no denominational 
shibboleths, and the heralds of the cross 
would proclaim the same doctrines the 
world around. 

Each generation of the Christian era 
has had its Fultons and Edisons who 
pushed aside the veil and interpreted, in 
part, the power of the gospel. This is 
especially true of the Reformation period. 
From Luther's day until the present, the 
Reformation has made steady progress. 



12 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

But it is not yet finished. In other 
words, the gospel, in its proclamation, is 
not full-orbed. And until it is proclaimed 
in its entirety and purity, it can not be 
applied in all its power. It must be 
stripped of all creeds, fads and fancies 
and its nature and mission unfolded to 
the understanding of the needy world. 
This work, like that of unfolding the 
forces of nature and the development of 
institutions and enterprises, and as has 
been that of gradually unveiling the 
Christian religion in the past, must be 
done by the far-seeing, consecrated men 
and women of this and succeeding gen- 
erations. And the program of its accom- 
plishment is specified in the text: 'Tre- 
cept upon precept, precept upon precept; 
line upon line, line upon line; here a lit- 
tle, and there a little.'' 

When a through train strikes down 
and level grades, it puts on steam and 
makes time. And likewise do all world 
movements. 

Our age is on swift wheels. More of 
nature's power is discovered and har- 
nessed now in ten years than was 



PUSHING THIS OLD WORLD ALONG 13 

formerly uncovered and utilized in a cen- 
tury. The progress of science, commer- 
cialism, governmental and social reforms, 
and everything in which the heart of the 
world beats, is likewise rapid. And, un- 
less the signs of the times are misleading, 
the rapidity of civilization's progress will 
increase with each passing year. 

Hence the necessity for speed in the 
progress of the gospel. 

In his address from this platform a 
few weeks ago, a native of eastern Africa 
said : ''Give Africa your civilization with- 
out your religion, and you will destroy 
the people of the Dark Continent." 

Japan will probably be the last nation 
to be successfully evangelized, because 
her civilization was established in ad- 
vance of the gospel. And she will doubt- 
less have to be saved from atheism 
instead of idol-worship. The church of 
our day has lost Japan, because she did 
not take opportunity by the forelock. 

Our modern civilization is establish- 
ing itself in China, India, Africa and all 
the benighted countries. And unless the 
peoples are won for Christ as the transi- 



14 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

tion is made, the task of Christianizing 
them will be very greatly deferred. Our 
civilization and idolatry can not very 
long reside together. When the heathen 
temples shall have been deserted, the 
people must be Christianized or they will 
become unbelievers. And a universal 
atheism or agnosticism would be much 
more difficult to conquer than paganism. 

All Europe will soon enter upon a 
period of reconstruction. Not only a new 
map, but changed languages and customs, 
will be the result. The established forms 
of religion will gradually disappear. And 
unless the gospel torch is held high, un- 
belief, in perhaps all its forms, will 
obtain. 

In addition to the peculiar geograph- 
ical and political conditions that are rap- 
idly coming to the front, the world is 
prepared as never before to accept the 
Christian religion. 

Returning to an illustration hereto- 
fore employed, there was never a time 
when the forces of nature were so cov- 
eted as now. For example, the power of 
electricity is universally recognized and 



PUSHING THIS OLD WORLD ALONG 15 

the demand for it throughout the me- 
chanical world is so great that the wiz- 
ards are working overtime to discover 
more ways of reducing it to service. 

And the universal demand for the 
Christian religion is just as great. The 
world, in all its departments, is in a state 
of transition. It is fast outgrowing the 
old forms of government and interna- 
tional relationships, business methods and 
political policies. The old philosophies 
of Hfe are losing out. Reforms, like 
ocean waves, are rolling on every sea of 
human interest. The power that will 
adjust nation to nation and man to man 
is everywhere blindly sought. That 
power is contained only in the principles 
of Christ's gospel. And the Christian 
people of this day are behooved to un- 
cover it so the world can see and apply it. 

The world can never usher in its 
Golden Age; this the gospel is destined 
to do. The present generation may not 
be able to accomplish universal redemp- 
tion. But it can approach it so nearly 
that its successor will sing the jubilee 
song in middle life. 



16 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

The call for men and women — stead- 
fast, energetic and optimistic — is more 
insistent now than ever before in human 
history. 

God uses organizations and move- 
ments. But he works in and through in- 
dividuals. It is not enough to simply pro- 
fess religion, attend church and refrain 
from evil. The gospel calls us to service 
— local and universal. ^We are laborers 
together with God." 

Carlyle comprehends the Christian life 
in his line: 

''Labor, wide as the earth, has its 
summit in heaven.'* 



IL 

PREPARING TO MEET GOD IN THIS 
WORLD 

"Prepare to meet thy God." — Amos 4: 12. 

This is a popular revival text, and 
the sermons constructed upon it usually 
proclaim the terrors of the judgment- 
day. But nothing in the chapter which 
presents it emphasizes the experiences of 
the future. It is therefore capable of an 
interpretation which designates situations 
in the present life. Hence our theme 
will be, ''Preparing to Meet God in This 
World." 

Pope said: 

"All are but parts of one stupendous whole, 
Whose body nature is, and God the soul." 

And Thomas Moore sang: 

"Thou art, O God, the life and light 
Of all the wondrous world we see; 
Its glow by day, its smile by night, 

Are but reflections caught from thee. 
Where'er we turn, thy glories shine, 
And all things bright and fair are thine." 

God is everywhere and in all things — ■ 

17 



18 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

the telescope reveals him in the constella- 
tions and the microscope lifts him up to 
view in the invisible world. But all eyes 
do not behold him in nature's beauty and 
grandeur, nor do all ears hear him in 
nature's melodies. 

Two men are in the presence of 
America's greatest wonder. One is there 
because time is heavy on his hands and 
he knows not how to make life interest- 
ing. He has plenty of money and is 
''just taking a trip" — going somewhere, 
he knows not where — and Niagara hap- 
pens to be on his list. After the first 
grand whirl around the place, the sights 
become tame and he is restless to move 
on. But his schedule reads, ''Leave to- 
morrow." And, not knowing what else 
to do, he creeps about and sleepily looks 
at the falls. God is in the river's spec- 
tacular leap, its wild dashes below the 
cataract, the wonderful mists and the 
playful rainbows. But the unfortunate 
traveler does not meet him — because he 
is unprepared. 

The other man has made a long pil- 
grimage, after years of planning and 



PREPARING TO MEET GOD 19 

much sacrifice. And now he reverently 
stands before one of the great thrones, 
and worships. He has met God in 
nature before, but now meets him in a 
new place. He looks at him, he feels 
him, he hears him speak — all because he 
is prepared. 

It is said that when Benjamin West 
and a companion gazed upon an extraor- 
dinary sunset, the companion was listless 
and said he saw nothing so entrancing 
about it. The enraptured artist ex- 
claimed: ^'Oh, my friend, don't you wish 
you could !" One was prepared, the other 
was not. 

Only those who are prepared can see 
God in the starry sky, the gorgeous sun- 
set, the vivid lightning, the green of the 
forest and the tinted petal, and listen to 
his voice in the peal of thunder, the mur- 
mur of the brook, the anthem of the 
swaying pines and the song of the bird. 

But God's residence is not confined to 
nature. He has ever been in his systems 
of religion. In the Patriarchal and 
Mosaic dispensations, he stood within 
easy reach of all the people. But only 



20 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

those who were prepared to meet him 
beheld the Living Presence and heard the 
heavenly voice. And he is in the Chris- 
tian religion. But to many, although he 
is so near and accessible, he is not real. 
Only those who are prepared, in mind 
and heart, can meet him, look into his 
face and hear him speak. 

Meeting God is recognizing and hav- 
ing fellowship with him. 

When Jacob arose from his Bethel 
pillow, he said: ''Surely the Lord was in 
this place, and I knew it not.'' 

And when the two disciples were on 
their way to Emmaus, they walked beside 
the Lord without recognizing him — like 
Jacob, they were unprepared. 

Are we ever unprepared to meet God, 
especially when our hearts are cast down 
and we need him most? 

There are appointed places in which 
God has promised to meet his people. 
But we must be prepared or he will not 
appear. 

God is in revelation, but all who read 
the written Word do not meet him there. 

Thomas Paine read the Bible, but he 



PREPARING TO MEET GOD 21 

did not meet God. John Randolph 
studied the Bible more than any other 
book because its classics fascinated him, 
but he did not hold converse with God. 
John G. Ingalls quoted the Bible in the 
United States Senate, on the stump and 
from the platform. Yet, near the close 
of his life, I heard him declare in a 
lecture that, while he respected the Chris- 
tian religion, he knew nothing about it 
experimentally — he had never met God. 
Ingersoll is said to have been as familiar 
with the Bible as he was with the multi- 
plication table. But his life's work testi- 
fies that he and God were strangers to 
each other. Only those who reverently 
search the Scriptures with a desire to 
see God and discover his will to man 
will meet him among the sacred pages. 

The Lord met his ancient people in 
the tabernacle and temple. And he meets 
his people to-day in their houses of wor- 
ship. He has promised that when they 
assemble in his name — even if only two 
or three are present — ^he will be in their 
midst. But preparation must precede 
fellowship with him. If we come to 



22 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

church because we have nowhere else to 
go, or to keep up a record of attendance, 
or because others come and we fear criti- 
cism if we do not, or for any other such 
reason, or if we come with enmity in 
our hearts or criticism in our minds, 
although God is in the service, we will 
not meet him. When we sit through an 
hour of worship, bored and wishing for 
the benediction, we are separated from 
God. Only those with high, devotional 
thoughts, who worship God in spirit and 
truth, meet him in the sanctuary. 

We can meet God in prayer. But 
the meeting here, as in the study of the 
Bible and at church, must result from 
preparation. The spirit of prayer, so 
liberally outlined in the New Testament 
and especially in the sixth chapter of 
Matthew, I need not take the time to 
analyze. 

Two examples are placed before us 
by the Saviour. Two men went into the 
temple to pray. One was self-righteous 
and haughty. He prayed, but did not 
meet God. The other, humble and de- 
pendent, prayed also, and in his prayer 



PREPARING TO MEET GOD 23 

he met his Lord. One was prepared ; the 
other was not. 

But the church-going, Bible-reading, 
praying man will not meet his Lord very 
often by even these appointments, no 
matter how conscientious and systematic 
his preparation, if he does not daily go 
forth to meet him in the life of the 
world. Self-deception in religion is so 
easy and common that numerous refer- 
ences are made to it in the New Testa- 
ment. Among others, we have the 
exhortation, 'Try your own selves, 
whether ye are in the faith,'' and, ''Be 
not deceived, God is not mocked.'' 

God is in every great forward move- 
ment, whether it be political, social, in- 
dustrial, religious or of some other 
character. And all who, after careful 
investigation and mature reflection, cast 
their influence on the side they believe is 
right, will meet him and be regaled in 
the magnetism of his presence. Also, he 
is in every duty — great and small — and 
if we gladly go forth to serve, we will 
repeatedly meet him face to face. 

And if, while passing through this 



24 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

world, we are daily prepared to meet 
God — in Bible study, church, prayer and 
service — the character of the inevitable 
meeting at the end of life need give us 
no concern. We will be prepared to 
meet him in the judgment. 

''Not every one that saith unto me, 
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom 
of heaven; but he that doeth the will of 
my Father who is in heaven/' 



III. 

THE FAITH 

"Stand fast in the faith/'— 1 Cor. 16:13. 

Religious science should be accorded 
the same latitude and courtesy extended 
to all other sciences. We are so accus- 
tomed to think science systematized 
knowledge that we accept in good faith 
whatever the specialists announce — for- 
getting that it is largely theoretical. 

Without attempting in this discourse 
to prove the authenticity of the Bible, 
which is easily and has been repeatedly 
done, I wish to submit the proposition 
that the conclusions it proclaims should 
be as readily accepted as those of astron- 
omy or any other science. How many, 
who reject the Christian religion on the 
ground that it is a matter of faith, have 
ever demonstrated or seen demonstrated 
the astronomical statements they accept 
as facts? 

The only telescope I ever looked 

25 



Id PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

through was in the hands of a ''street 
astronomer/' who sold me a glance at a 
star I do not now recall, and probably 
did not know then, for ten cents. My 
personal observation of the shining 
worlds in the remote heavens has there- 
fore been quite limited. And should I 
insist that I could not accept the conclu- 
sions of astronomy because it would be 
a matter of faith, my friends would 
question the wisdom of permitting me 
at large. Yet this is precisely the ridic- 
ulous attitude of many otherwise intelli- 
gent people relative to conclusions pre- 
sented in the Scriptures. 

Again, it is often asserted that, as 
there are different interpretations of 
Bible statements and also a lack of per- 
fect harmony in the Scriptures them- 
selves, the Bible as a whole is an absurd 
bundle of errors. 

Could not the same objection be hurled 
at every science? There are divisions 
of opinion regarding color, sound, the 
origin of species and every other subject 
known to scientific research. Further- 
more, it is doubtful if a scientific treatise 



THE FAITH 27 

could be found in which every sentence 
and word would entirely agree with every 
other sentence and word. Words have 
various shades of meaning; living lan- 
guages are ever in a state of evolution; 
and, besides, the writer does not live who 
can produce a perfect composition. 
Neither Shakespeare, Milton, Dickens, 
nor any other of our great English 
authors, could pass through the flames 
of criticism unscorched, nor could the 
most proficient linguistic critics. Life is 
too short, people's heads are too small 
and languages are too large for any man 
to absolutely master the tongue wherein 
he speaks. And to all this must be 
added man's fallibility, the frailty of his 
nature and the possibility of accident. 

God has depended upon human in- 
strumentality for the revelation of his 
will. The men he originally selected were 
accepted as he found them. Some were 
scholars and some were not; some were 
environed by luxury and others by pov- 
erty; some had been reared in polite cir- 
cles and others in the treadmill of poorly 
paid toil; some were young and bright 



28 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

and others were old and sorrowful. 
They were selected because their spiritual 
inclinations made them available. During 
the fifteen hundred years in which the 
Bible was written God used the best he 
could find on whose shoulders to lay 
great tasks, just as he has done in all the 
centuries since, is doing to-day and will 
ever do. And the Bible authors had to 
write in the language of their times. 
This was the logical method. Had they 
been inspired to write in the perfect lan- 
guage the world will eventually speak, the 
people of their day would not have com- 
prehended their messages — nor would the 
people of our own day. The plan adopted, 
which the Lord evidently pronounced 
good, enables each generation to study 
his will in its own languages and light. 
Also, the men on whom has rested the 
responsibility of handing the text down 
from generation to generation employed 
the scholarship of their times, just as 
present-day revisers employ the scholar- 
ship of our time and as all future re- 
visers will do. 

The Bible message has existed from 



THE FAITH 29 

the beginning, as have the truths of 
nature. It is not therefore progressive 
any more than nature's messages are 
progressive — save as, Uke nature's mes- 
sages, it is made clearer and clearer by 
the world's advancing scholarship. It 
unfolds with the ages, as does the mes- 
sage of every science. Why, then, should 
science be accepted and the Bible re- 
jected? 

It is also claimed that because the 
Bible does not explain everything beyond 
the possibility of a logical question it can 
not be accepted as authority. 

This, to my mind, is the most falla- 
cious objection on record. By the same 
method of reasoning, all science would 
be set aside, for no branch of science 
pulls all the mystery out of anything. 
The man does not live who can explain 
such commonplace things as the bursting 
bud, the snowflake, the grain of sand, the 
spots on a reptile and the songs of the 
forests until no questions can be asked. 
Satisfactory explanations of motion, 
speech and life have yet to be made. 
Even the things man himself has created 



30 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

are not clear to his own mind. For ex- 
amples: Why does the English alphabet 
begin with A instead of Z? Why is M 
in the middle? And why any of the 
alphabet letters instead of characters of 
another kind? The history of alphabets 
goes back to an assumption, and there 
it ends. Whence the figure 1 ? And why 
does a cipher placed at the right of a 
numeral increase it tenfold? I know the 
general explanation, but none are suffi- 
ciently exhaustive to prevent questions 
that are unanswerable. 

Such terms as ''atom," ''ether" and 
"space" are but other words for human 
ignorance. I believe certain brands of 
advanced learning have declared war on 
atoms. But new terms for old things, 
whatever their nature, are about as 
transparent as the old ones. Changing 
words does not dispose of realities. 

Tyndall defined ether as "an almost 
infinitely attenuated and elastic medium 
which fills all space." Quite clear! And 
Mansel says: "Space is not properly an 
innate idea, for no idea is wholly innate; 
but it is the innate element of the ideas 



THE FAITH 31 

of sense which experience calls into con- 
sciousness/' Clearer still! 

Nothing is perfectly clear to any- 
body, because the final word has not 
been spoken on any subject. Further- 
more, all human reasoning begins with 
the hypothetical. And in the final analy- 
sis, everybody, everywhere, accepts every- 
thing as a matter of faith. 

The demand, therefore, for a clear 
and satisfactory explanation of the ele- 
mental things in the Christian religion 
is unreasonable, and broad-gauge think- 
ers do not insist upon it. Had the Bible 
undertaken the task of explaining every- 
thing as science has, it would have been 
such a ponderous volume that no one 
could have given it sufficient attention 
to have been benefited by it. It attempts 
no explanation of phenomena. Yet it is 
as clear on the mysterious subjects it pre- 
sents as is science on the matters it 
treats. And if we accept the hypothetical 
in science, we ought to be as generous 
with the Bible when it states propositions, 
and reasons from them to the kind of 
lives we should lead here and the future 



32 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

of individuals and the race as a whole. 

The Bible tells us there is a God, that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that 
the Holy Spirit is his witness ; that there 
is sin and its end is death; that there is 
righteousness and its reward is eternal 
life. But no explanations are made. And 
as chemistry tells the farmer how to be 
enriched by the forces of nature that are 
not explained, the Bible teaches us how 
to come into remunerative touch wath the 
mysteries of the Christian religion. 

The wise farmer stands fast in his 
faith, and his fortune grows out of the 
soil he tills. Should we be less wise 
regarding spiritual things? 

"Have faith in God." "Stand fast in 
the faith.'' 



IV. 

HOPE 

"The hope set before us/'— Heb. 6 : 18. 

The passage containing this phrase 
has been called ''the golden fulcrum of 
the Christian life/' 

In literature, hope is frequently con- 
founded with desire. But hope, which 
has in it the element of expectation, is 
more than desire. A desire for something 
may link faith with a plan or an enter- 
prise through which acquisition is possi- 
ble, and thereby become hope. But we 
frequently desire things for which we can 
never hope. The human heart is a work- 
shop which never shuts down; the ma- 
chinery whirls whether the foreman is 
present or absent, and numerous foolish 
desires that common sense must condemn 
and destroy are constantly turned out. 

Landor wrote, ^'Hope is the mother 
of faith." And Bartol said, ''Hope is the 
parent of faith." These authors have 

33 



34 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

our respect. But they do not agree with 
another, for whom we have greater 
respect, who wrote: ^Taith is assurance 
of things hoped for, a conviction of 
things not seen/' 

If hope is, or comprises, expectation, 
it must stand on faith with its eyes on 
the future. 

And hope looks in only one direction. 
You can not hope that your friend is well 
or that he enjoyed a good rest last night. 
Hope respects neither the past nor the 
present ; it concerns only the future. ^'We 
live in that which we anticipate." 

"Life's fairest things are those which seem, 
The best is that of which we dream." 

The little boy hopes to grow and 
some day engage in the sports he sees 
the larger boys enjoy. The larger boy 
hopes to become a man and do the things 
that absorb the attention of men. And 
there comes a time when he starts in life 
for himself, and, standing upon the sum- 
mit of Mount Ambition, he looks out 
upon his future and joyously contem- 
plates its fertile plains and evergreen 
peaks. Blot out the young man's hopes 



HOPE 35 

and you brush the sun, moon and stars 
from his heavens. When the meridian 
of life is reached, his hopes are not so 
numerous; he has already realized many 
of them and has seen others tumble to 
the ground. Nevertheless, the afternoon 
sky of his life scintillates with multiplied, 
bewHching hopes. And when at last his 
shadow is greatly lengthened by the set- 
ting sun, the sinking orb, itself, is a 
blazing hope. We hope till death, and 
even death is a hope. 

Where lives the man in whose breast 
there is no hope? 

"The wretch, condemned with life to part, 
Still, still on hope relies; 
And every pang that rends his heart 
Bids expectation rise." 

The suicide leaps from the trestle, 
flings himself beneath the wheels of a 
locomotive, drinks the deadly poison or 
sends the leaden ball crashing through 
his head when he has seen his last hope 
take wings and fly away. No hope means 
inevitable, and, if possible, immediate, 
death. But one hope will prolong life 
and make it sweet. 

'Where there is no hope, there can 



36 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

be no endeavor." This is but another 
way of asserting that hope is the main- 
spring of human action. Because hope 
is universally essential, God has fanned 
it into a flame in every breast. It is the 
life of business, politics, scholarship, the 
home, and everything in which it is pos- 
sible for man to become interested. 

And hope is the foundation of every 
superstition to which the human family 
is heir. The wild Indian's hope respected 
the '^happy hunting-ground" of another 
world, and the devout Hindu's hope re- 
gales itself in a higher form of life. 
Every religion establishes itself and ex- 
tends its influence by exalting its hopes. 
Man is naturally a religious creature, and 
hope is therefore the arch-enemy of infi- 
delity. Colonel Ingersoll went up and 
down the country, professing unbelief. 
But at his brother's grave the hope of his 
heart sat on his shoulder like a dove, and 
branded his spectacular career a bald 
pretense. 

"Hope springs eternal in the human breast ; 
Man never is, but always to be blest. 
The soul, uneasy and confined from home, 
Rests and expatiates in a life to come." 



HOPE Zl 

The Christian religion is not an ex- 
ception. The word ''hope" is distributed 
all through the New Testament. ''We 
are saved by hope;'' it is in the plan of 
redemption. The altruist whose vision 
comprehends the ends of the earth and 
future ages hopes for the universal sal- 
vation of man, and his hope inspires his 
efforts and liberality. But this does not 
mean that his hope does not ascend the 
eternal heights. All who believe in Christ 
hope for an eternal abode with him. "If 
in this life only we have hope in Christ, 
we are of all men most miserable." 
Christ is in his people, "the hope of 
glory.'' We behold our Hope in the man- 
ger, at Jordan, going about preaching 
and performing miracles, in Gethsemane, 
on the cross, in the tomb, in the resurrec- 
tion and ascension and at God's right 
hand in heaven. And beholding him, we 
rejoice, take courage and go forward. 

"Wherefore, gird up the loins of your 
mind, be sober and hope to the end." 

Our lives are filled with trials and 
disappointments, and we sometimes ask, 
"Is it worth while?" 



38 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

Ofttimes 

"The day is cold and dark and dreary ; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, 
But at every gust the dead leaves fall, 
And the day is dark and dreary." 

And we sorrow. 

"There is no flock, however watched and tended, 
But one dead lamb is there ! 
There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 
But has one vacant chair." 

But when the hour is black and the 
soul cries out in its anguish, our Hope 
appears and tenderly says : ^'Let not your 
heart be troubled: believe in God, believe 
also in me. In my Father's house are 
many abiding-places; if it were not so, 
I would have told you; for I go to pre- 
pare a place for you. And if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I come again, 
and will receive you unto myself; that 
where I am, there ye may be also." Then 
it is that we look through our tears upon 
the rainbow against the sky, and our 
hearts begin to sing: 

"We are waiting by the river, 
We are waiting, you and I ; 
One by one our friends are crossing. 
We shall join them by and by." 



HOPE 39 

''Godliness is profitable for all things, 
having promise of the life which now is 
and of that which is to come.'' 

It is the hope of our religion that 
enables us to endure and strive and 
leads us on. 

"Hope, like the gleaming taper's light, 
Adorns and cheers our way; 
And still, as darker grows the night, 
Emits a brighter ray." 

Heaven is not the sole object of 
Christian living, nor does it, alone, re- 
ward faithful service. We know that all 
Christian effort is rewarded in this world. 
Nevertheless, the New Testament keeps 
the eternal abode of the righteous within 
our perspective. And we think of it as 
a city whose streets are of gold, whose 
gates are made of pearls and whose walls 
are adorned with all manner of precious 
stones — jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, em- 
erald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, 
topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth and amethyst. 

"Go, wing thy flight from star to star, 
From world to luminous world as far 

As the universe spreads its flaming wall; 
Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, 
And multiply each through endless years, 

One minute of heaven is worth them all." 



V. 
PRAYER 

"Pray without ceasing/'—l Thess. 5 : 17. 

People of all classes, everywhere, talk 
glibly about prayer. It is perhaps more 
universally discussed than any other 
theme. But that, as a rule, it is not 
adequately comprehended is apparent to 
all who pay special attention to speeches 
and conversations upon the subject. 
Many of the affirmations concerning 
prayer one hears in open meetings, and 
even from the pulpit, are positively ridic- 
ulous. 

Prayer, strictly defined, is neither 
praise nor thanksgiving; it is a petition 
to a court, an institution or a person. 
What we ordinarily call prayer and what 
the Bible recognizes as prayer is a peti- 
tion, or a series of petitions, to the Deity. 

If we wish to present a prayer to an 
earthly tribunal, we do not proceed in a 
haphazard way. The brightest lawyer 

40 



PRAYER 41 

we know is retained to draw up the peti- 
tion — ^plus no words that are meaning- 
less, minus nothing that is essential. Nor 
would any one ever think of walking into 
a court-room just to have a few words 
with the judge about ''things in general." 
An extremely religious gentleman once 
called on me when it was my ''busy day." 
He told me it was his "day off" and that 
he had just dropped around to "kill a lit- 
tle time." When he had killed about an 
hour of his own time, and mine as well, 
he said, "Suppose we have a word of 
prayer." I asked what he wished to pray 
for. He answered, "Oh, nothing in par- 
ticular — just a little season of prayer." I 
informed him that I was not in the habit 
of praying about "nothing in particular," 
and that unless he had something definite 
in mind to pray for, I thought the time 
would be wasted. He went away without 
praying, and it was not long until he 
started the report that I had no religion. 
Owing to his lack of vision and charity, 
perhaps it would not have been amiss had 
we besought the Lord in behalf of his 
religion. 



42 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

I have mentioned this incident to 
emphasize the irregularity which so uni- 
versally prevails in connection with 
prayer. Prayer is a serious matter; and 
when we approach the Throne, our peti- 
tions should be well thought out and 
definite. 

There are times when prayer must 
ascend from the heart that is heavy. And 
when such is the case, the eyes may be 
moist and the voice may tremble. But 
it is not necessary to always weep or feel 
sorrowful when praying. The child 
must occasionally present its petition in 
tears. But the father is better pleased 
when it comes with a smile-wreathed 
face. The New Testament teaches ''joy 
in the Lord." And, under normal cir- 
cumstances, prayer should not be bur- 
dened with hysteria. 

Jesus rebuked vain repetitions in 
prayer. ''Storm the battlements of 
heaven!" is an old, familiar exhortation. 
And "Plead with God until your prayer is 
answered" is another. The idea seems 
to prevail that the prayer of faith must 
"hang on," whereas the "hanging on" 



PRAYER 43 

prayer is one of doubt If I pray for 
the forgiveness of a sin or for anything 
else, and continue presenting the same 
petition, it is proof that I lack faith. We 
do not thus approach our earthly friends. 
When you ask a favor of a friend and 
he assures you that it will be granted, 
you do not make the same request of him 
the next hour or the next day. Should 
you pursue such a course, he would con- 
clude that you doubted his word. And 
your act would be evidence of a doubt in 
your heart. God is neither deaf nor 
^^otherwise engaged" when we pray. He 
assures us that when we speak to him he 
listens and that our prayers will receive 
attention. Real faith, therefore, presents 
its petition and leaves it with God, never 
questioning his righteous disposition of it. 
Prayers addressed to Jesus or the 
Holy Spirit are not in harmony with the 
New Testament plan. We are the chil- 
dren of God, and our prayers should be 
directed to our Father. But as prayers 
to an earthly tribunal are presented 
through an authorized agent, our prayers 
to the heavenly tribunal must be pre- 



44 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

sented through the heavenly appointed 
agent. ''We have an Advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." ''He 
maketh intercession for the saints accord- 
ing to the will of God.'' 

The province of prayer is perhaps less 
understood than any other phase of the 
subject. 

The purport of miracles in Old Tes- 
tament times was the establishment of the 
Deity in the minds of the people. And 
miracles were wrought by Jesus and by 
some of his followers in the early gospel 
morning to establish his Messiahship. 
But when their mission was fulfilled, 
miracles ceased. That Paul, at one time, 
had miraculous power must be admitted. 
Yet he prayed that the thorn in his flesh 
might be removed, and we have good 
reasons for concluding that it remained. 
Also, he left Trophimus at Miletus sick, 
instead of healing him. These facts in- 
dicate that even an apostle lived to see 
the day when miracles were no more. 

Yet much of the praying we hear, 
and much that is said and written on 
prayer, associate miracles with our time. 



PRAYER 45 

This is a false doctrine, viewed in the 
light of either Scripture or common 
sense. The New Testament does not 
teach that temporal things, such as phy- 
sical health or financial prosperity, shall 
be awarded us for service rendered or 
sent in answer to prayer. Furthermore, 
if we reason from the standpoint of 
common sense, we must conclude that 
God does not single out persons and save 
them from calamity and at the same time 
permit others — just as good and useful 
or better and more influential — to suffer 
the ills to which humanity is heir. I once 
heard a man boast, in public address, that 
he alone had escaped injury in a wreck, 
and he attributed his good fortune to the 
prayer for a safe journey he had regis- 
tered in heaven when starting upon the 
trip. Another — a lady — testified in a 
lecture she delivered over the country, at 
twenty-five cents per, that the Lord had 
saved her when a burning vessel went 
down, carrying with it a large number of 
men, women and children — all church 
people, and among them a minister and 
his family and several Sunday-school 



46 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

teachers. If vanity be sin, and the Bible 
teaches that it is, those who thus boast, 
sin, and in the name of God at that. Who 
am I that I should be especially favored 
and kept free from disease and accident 
and financial distress, when multitudes of 
others — much better and more capable 
in the Lord's service — are afflicted! The 
Lord's own have languished in prison, 
met with accident, starved and endured 
all manner of suffering down through the 
centuries from the beginning. And the 
claim in our day, upon the part of any, 
of exemption from trouble or special 
providences respecting temporal things is 
consummate egotism. 

Jesus said to his original disciples: 
*'In the world ye have tribulation.'' And 
he says the same to his disciples of to- 
day. Otherwise, the Great Commission, 
the assurance, ''Lo, I am with you al- 
ways,'' and other commands and prom- 
ises, were for his early followers only. 

''My kingdom is not of this world." 
This is the premise from which to reason 
about our relationship to God and claim 
to his promises. We are citizens of a 



PRAYER 47 

Spiritual kingdom, and our prayers should 
therefore respect the higher life. We 
should pray concerning the temporal only 
as it relates to the spiritual. The time to 
pray about money is when one has it. 
The man of means should pray for wis- 
dom to properly use the wealth he has 
inherited or accumulated. And if the 
fortune or income is limited, we should 
pray for guidance in the distribution of 
what we have. It is quite evident that 
the majority of devout church people 
know no more about handling the means 
entrusted to them than the child knows 
about handling a razor. If it were other- 
wise, the various treasuries of the king- 
dom would never go begging. Likewise, 
the time to pray about health is when 
one has it, not after it is gone. ^'Lord, 
help me to use my health in thy service,'^ 
is the logical well man's prayer — if he be 
a Christian. 

Service is the object of the Christian 
profession. There are daily duties to be 
performed, aside from the things pre- 
scribed by an occupation. And circum- 
stances frequently introduce duties ex- 



48 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

traordinary. We need wisdom and 
strength in the performance of duty, and 
the man who Hves in the spirit of prayer 
is more capable than the one who does 
not. 

And when temptation is to be resisted, 
prayer will avail. I am sure no man 
ever committed sin while honestly pray- 
ing against his temptation. 

Also, the troubles of life assail us — 
quite frequently when we least expect 
them. The night grows dark, the storm 
rages, the heavens rock and the heart 
aches and bleeds. We have no promise 
that these trials will flee. But the prom- 
ises that power from above will sustain 
us are abundant. God's answer to Paul's 
cry of affliction was: ^'My grace is suffi- 
cient for thee.'' When staggering under 
burdens, we can pray for strength to 
endure and it will be supplied. 

In all the ages, the great people — 
those who have resisted temptation, 
borne their burdens gracefully and per- 
formed life's duties well — have been men 
and women of prayer. Prayer is essen- 
tial to the life that is in harmony with 



PRAYER 49 

the will of God. Hence the Christian 
must ''pray without ceasing/' just as the 
body must eat and sleep and exercise 
without ceasing. 

Martin Luther said: 'Trayer is a 
powerful thing, for God has bound and 
tied himself thereunto.'' 

And Guizot wrote: 'The universal 
and insuperable instinct which leads men 
to prayer is in harmony with this great 
fact; he who believes in God can not but 
have recourse to him and pray to him." 



VI. 

CHRIST'S SUPREMACY 

*'A11 authority hath been given unto me in heaven 
and on earth."— Matt. 28 : 18. 

It is of Christ's authority on earth 
that I wish to speak. 

'The Deity of Jesus'' is a theme the 
theologians never grow weary of dis- 
cussing. They point to the prophecies 
that described him and outHned his mis- 
sion, the miracles he performed and the 
manner of his advent. Much controversy 
has arisen concerning the virgin birth 
and the resurrection, and many volumes 
have been written upon these subjects. 
Arguments are adduced to prove the 
authenticity of the Bible, then the Bible 
is employed to prove the divinity of 
Christ. It is an interesting procedure 
and an essential one; the Christian 
religion has a scholarly side, to which 
each generation must give attention. The 
general public is not, however, very 

50 



CHRISrS SUPREMACY 51 

deeply interested in these profound argu- 
ments. Theological works are not the 
''best sellers/' because the people, as a 
rule, have neither the time nor the 
inclination to read them. And while 
learned discussions will ever have a place 
in the religion of the generations, I am 
confident that in the future, as in the 
past, the majority will be reached by 
arguments more simple — yet just as tre- 
mendous. 

Were I assigned the task of convert- 
ing the average skeptic, I do not think 
I should present to him the usual argu- 
ments. Instead, I would call his attention 
to the greatest facts of the ages, and then 
insist that he honestly answer a few 
logical questions. And my sermon to 
him would be something like what I shall 
now say to you. 

Once upon a time, a young man about 
thirty years of age stepped forth from 
an humble home in a small town that had 
never acquired a reputation for superior 
intellectual attainment, and began talk- 
ing to the people upon the ethics of cor- 
rect living. The Bible is not needed to 



52 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

prove that there was such a man, there- 
fore we shall not appeal to it. History 
sustains the assertion that he lived. Jose- 
phus, in the eighteenth book and third 
chapter of his ''Antiquities of the Jews," 
declares that he lived and taught the 
people and that Pilate condemned him 
to death. This historian also affirms 
that he did wonderful works, and that 
three days after his interment he arose 
from the dead. But, inasmuch as we are 
not depending upon what is generally 
referred to as ''miracles," we will strike 
out this part of the historic evidence at 
our disposal. All we need is the fact 
that such an one lived. 

Judging from the records we have, 
we may conclude that he enjoyed none of 
the higher educational advantages of 
his day, and that, up to the beginning of 
his public career, he was a day laborer. 
The only mental picture we can therefore 
have of him is that of a plain, sun- 
browned, callous-handed son of toil. 

His itinerancy was confined to a sec- 
tion of country not more than 145 miles 
in length and forty-five miles in breadth. 



CHRIST'S SUPREMACY 53 

And his usual mode of travel was that 
of walking. 

He left no writing. And he died at 
an age when the majority of celebrities 
are just experimenting with life, trying 
to discover their talents and find a place 
in which to become active. 

In round figures, it has been nineteen 
hundred years since this man lived. Ordi- 
narily, such a person would never have 
been heard of outside his own locality, 
and even there the second generation 
would have forgotten his name. But 
this unique man has come down through 
the centuries and is known to-day the 
world around. And his prestige is 
universal. 

To say nothing of the monuments of 
every description erected to him in every 
land, and the literature concerning him 
spread broadcast everywhere, his teach- 
ing has been woven into world govern- 
ments, institutions and movements, and 
all — both good and bad — wherever mod- 
ern civilization penetrates, are compelled 
to recognize him. 

The business of the world is done in 



54 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

his name. No man can deposit money 
in a bank, write a check or transfer prop- 
erty without recognizing him. Thomas 
Paine's ''Age of Reason" was pubHshed 
in his name. Ingersoll's birth and mar- 
riage and death certificates were recorded 
in his name. Furthermore, it was in this 
man's name that America's celebrated 
agnostic arranged his lecture dates, pur- 
chased transportation, registered at hotels 
and read the glowing accounts of his 
speeches in the morning papers. Not 
recognize the Nazarene! Where lives 
the man who can go through life ignor- 
ing him! In his name we are born; in 
his name we collect our wages and gather 
our dividends, build our houses and per- 
form every detail of life; in his name 
we die and are buried; in his name our 
tombstones are erected and our estates 
are settled up. 

Furthermore, the world annually pays 
this man a tribute of respect — so enor- 
mous in its proportions that it must be 
seriously reckoned with by the keenest 
business sense of the countries. Manu- 
facturers and merchants begin in January 



CHRIST'S SUPREMACY 55 

preparations for the next Christmas 
rush. And by the first of December the 
business world is in the clutch of festal 
sentiment. More clerks are installed in 
the stores, and the force in the wrapping 
and shipping room is increased; more 
drivers are put on the streets, and the 
transportation facilities are augmented. 
The express managers and postal author- 
ities reach the point of distraction — traffic 
everywhere is almost unmanageable. ''It 
gets worse every year,'' we frequently 
hear it said. Call it silly sentiment and 
criticize it as you may, the fact remains 
that the young man of Palestine annually 
commands the attention of every country 
and embarrasses the world of industry. 
And on his birthday he is a guest in 
every house. The festivities may not 
accord with his teaching and the people 
may not be his devout followers. But 
no matter, one day in the year they do 
him honor. Even the saloon is wreathed 
in holly, and the ivy sprig speaks its 
message in the house of scarlet. In city 
and country, in palace and hovel, on the 
high seas — wherever civilized man may 



56 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

be — there on the 25th of December the 
spirit of Christmas holds forth. 

Once a year the world exclaims: 

"Lo ! now is come our joyful'st feast! 

Let every man be jolly. 
Each room with ivy leaves is drest, 

And every post with holly. 
Now all our neighbors' chimneys smoke, 

And Christmas blocks are burning; 
Their ovens they with bak't meats choke, 

And all their spits are turning." 

In addition to all this, the peasant 
Jew is the soul of art and the presiding 
spirit in literature. The atmosphere of 
the masterpieces is created by his pres- 
ence; the musicians are under his spell; 
and the modern book in which he does 
not, in some way, speak, is not on the 
market. 

Whence the Nazarene's influence in 
every department of human life? Why 
have not such men as Plato, Socrates, 
Confucius and Buddha dominated the 
world? Why does this man, when intro- 
duced in China and India, displace Con- 
fucius and Buddha in the hearts of the 
people? Why has not one greater than 
he been produced by the advancing intel- 
lect of the centuries? 



CHRIST'S SUPREMACY 57 

Now, my sermon to the skeptic is 
finished and he is silent. If he thinks 
until Gabriel's trumpet blows, he will 
not be able to accomit for this universal 
authority on other than supernatural 
grounds. 

Jesus, the Christ, is transforming the 
political, industrial, social and religious 
life of the race. He came to redeem the 
world, and he will complete the task. 

''He shall judge among the nations, 
and shall rebuke many people: and they 
shall beat their swords into plowshares, 
and their spears into pruninghooks : 
nation shall not lift up sword against 
nation, neither shall they learn war any 
more." 

The Christian religion will yet solve 
every vexatious problem known to man. 

The ''great voices in heaven" spoke 
out of the Golden Age and said: "The 
kingdom of the world is become the king- 
dom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and 
he shall reign for ever and ever." 

"Jesus shall reign where'er the sun 
Does his successive journeys run; 
His kingdom stretch from shore to shore, 
Till moons shall wax and wane no more." 



VII. 
OUR INDEBTEDNESS 

^'Render to all their dues ; tribute to whom tribute is 
due ; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear ; honor 
to whom honor. Owe no man anything, save to love one 
another."— Rom. 13 :7, 8. 

Martial wrote: 

"You say you nothing owe ; and so I say : 
He only owes who something hath to pay." 

If no one holds legal paper against 
us, we are inclined to boast that we are 
out of debt. But are we? 

The only people who are not in debt 
are little children, the unfortunate in- 
mates of insanity cells, idiots and the 
silent occupants of the cemetery. Debt 
hangs over the heads of all who have 
life, years of maturity and reason. No 
one can escape it. 

Lytton said: ^^Debt is to a man what 
the serpent is to the bird; its eye fasci- 
nates, its breath poisons, its coil crushes 
both sinew and bone, its jaw is the pitiless 
grave.'' 

58 



OUR INDEBTEDNESS 59 

And Beecher added: ''Debt is an in- 
exhaustible fountain of dishonesty/' 

Nevertheless, these distinguished gen- 
tlemen were in debt. The moment which 
declared that they were accountable for 
their actions involved them, and each day 
and hour of their lives thereafter added 
to their obligations. 

And as it was with them, it has al- 
ways been and will always be with man; 
not one of us can escape the obligations 
thrust upon our shoulders by the life 
through which we are passing. 

Our first creditor is God — 

"God, who oft descends to visit men 
Unseen, and through their habitation walks 
To mark their doings." 

Why are we indebted to God? 

First of all, he is our source of life. 
We sometimes complain that life's bur- 
dens are heavy, and, now and then, some 
one grows weary of living and premature- 
ly terminates his earthly existence. How- 
ever, the human family, as a whole, is 
glad to be in the world. We enjoy life 
and do all we can to prolong it. If, there- 
fore, there were no other reasons than 



60 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

the fact of life, we are debtors to God. 

In addition to life he has given us a 
delightful world in which to dwell. All 
do not possess houses and lands. But 
the air circulates for all, water flows for 
all, the sun shines for all, the beautiful 
in the heavens and the earth is for all ; the 
world was made for man, and every one 
has access to a portion of its luxuries 
and splendor. 

We are daily recipients of his boun- 
teous providences. As a consequence of 
his forethought in creation, we have food, 
raiment, shelter and pleasure. 

And we are in debt to him for our 
salvation from sin, our spiritual develop- 
ment and our hope. Our noblest aspira- 
tions, our worship, our consolation and 
strength in time of trial and our hopes 
for this life and the life to come are all 
from God. 

But what does he ask of us? Were 
all that is said in the Bible on the subject 
put into one answer, it would be, ^Xove 
God and serve him.'' 

The word ^^serve'' introduces our 
second creditor — man. We say, 'The 



OUR INDEBTEDNESS 61 

world owes us a living." And it does. 
But we owe the world vastly more than 
the price of our material existence. 
Why? Because God made it, and it is 
his. 

Because we are in it, and, as God de- 
pends upon people to lift it up to a plane 
of respectability and righteousness, we 
are each, to the extent of our ability, re- 
sponsible for its elevation. 

And because of what it, under divine 
guidance, has done for us. The material 
world was originally undeveloped. But 
each of the past generations made life 
easier and more enjoyable. Hence the 
conveniences and comforts of our day. 

Also, in the spheres of scholarship, 
morals and religion, the past neglected 
not to toil for the future, hence the tree 
of culture in whose shade we rest and 
from whose branches we gather the 
fruits that refresh. 

And behold the cost of what has been 
accomplished ! Our inventions, our scien- 
tific discoveries, our forms of govern- 
ment, our commercial systems, our moral 
code, our religion — all have entailed the 



62 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

sacrifice of comfort, means, liberty and 
life. It is doubtful if there is a single 
prominent feature of our civilization on 
whose altar life has not been offered, 
either by accident or persecution. And 
the religious feature, especially, has 
written its history in martyrs' blood. 

Is it possible, therefore, for any one 
to be so stupid as to insist that he is out 
of debt? Young men and women fre- 
quently inherit the fortunes their parents 
toiled to create, then spend their lives in 
idle luxury. But the world does not 
respect them, and it is doubtful if they 
respect themselves. They are not work- 
ers, but shirkers. They may be applaud- 
ed, but the applause is not genuine. The 
world hates shirkers. And when it pats 
one on the shoulder, to gain some selfish 
end, its heart is not in its hand. 

The present has inherited the for- 
tunes created by the past. We are all 
legal, and should be active, heirs. Our 
obligations to our age and generation are 
therefore clearly defined. The question, 
''What do we owe the world?" is defi- 
nitely answered by the logic of our situ- 



OUR INDEBTEDNESS 6^ 

ation. The world has given us service, 
and it demands service in return. And 
this service it specifies with the index 
finger of each day. Only the blind com- 
plain that they can see nothing to do. 
The vineyard of labor is always at hand. 
Work is ever plentiful. And, to one and 
all, an old-time preacher says: ''Whatso- 
ever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might.'^ 

In the third place, we are debtors to 
ourselves. We frequently hear it said 
of some one, ''He's his own worst 
enemy.'' And it might be said of us all, 
^'We owe ourselves most." Not that we 
do not think enough of and about our- 
selves, for we are so prone to do this 
that Paul finds it necessary to say, "Be 
not wise in your own conceits." The 
average man or woman pays much atten- 
tion to self. 

But we do not always pay ourselves 
in the proper coin. If I owe you wheat 
and give you tares, I have not paid my 
debt. Our soul natures frequently send 
us bills for the bread and fish due them, 
and we respond with stones and serpents. 



64 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

How often we spend time and money 
and make sacrifices ministering to our- 
selves, when a voice from within keeps 
crying, 'It's all vanity and vexation of 
spirit!'' It is only when currency of 
value is deposited in the soul's exchequer 
that the receipted bill is returned with 
'Thanks" written across it. 

What is legal soul-tender? 

Like the child, going into ecstasy 
over a toy to-day and discarding it for 
a new one to-morrow, many devout peo- 
ple are ever looking for the new and 
fantastic in religion. But full-grown, 
well-developed religious natures demand 
more substantial payments. The prayer- 
meeting sigh, the revival shout, the emo- 
tional tear and the sentimental thrill con- 
stitute counterfeit money that will not 
be accepted by the receiving-teller of a 
well-balanced, conscientious soul. 

It is by liquidating our indebtedness 
to our fellow-men and God that we 
liquidate our indebtedness to ourselves. 
If the New Testament goes to extremes 
in the presentation of any one conclusion, 
it is this — the souls that will shine bright- 



OUR INDEBTEDNESS 65 

est in glory are not those who talk the 
loudest and make the greatest professions 
down here, but those who do the most. 
In Chicago, years ago, many eloquent 
preachers delivered sermons to admiring 
audiences, and many church-members 
gave of their abundance to the Lord's 
work. But I doubt if any paid themselves 
as well or will shine in glory as will an 
old tollgate-keeper in the outskirts of the 
city. He lived in one little room, went 
clad in patched-up garments, and was 
called a miser. But at his death it was 
discovered that all his earnings over and 
above his frugal personal expenses had 
gone to his only son — his own living-link 
missionary on a foreign field. He was 
not a Pharisee. He neither made broad 
his phylactery nor offered long prayers 
in public places. But he cheerfully re- 
ceived the bill sent from God and human- 
ity, paid it in full, and in doing so paid 
himself and enjoyed his freedom. 
Freedom ! 

*'My angel — ^his name is Freedom — 
Choose him to be your king; 
He shall cut pathways east and west, 
And fend you with his wing." 



(^ PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

I have the conviction that nothing in 
this world affords an honest man such 
joy as freedom from debt. Do you recall 
an obligation that kept you awake at 
night, rendered your meals insipid, cast 
a gloom over your home and made life 
almost intolerable? Do you remember 
the rigid economy in your home and the 
interest with which you and your family 
watched the httle pile of money grow? 
And will you ever forget the day you 
turned the money over to your creditor, 
received a receipt in full and felt like 
kissing it, and then walked home with 
elastic step and high head — a free man! 

A realization of debt to man and 
God fills the honest soul with heaviness 
and makes pressing its debt to itself. 
And the liquidation of its obligations 
causes it to pass out into freedom which 
is unspeakable and full of glory. 



VIII. 
THE LARGER LIFE 

"Be ye also enlarged/'— 2 Cor. 6 : 13. 

Expansion is conspicuous in all na- 
ture. Given its freedom and the favor- 
able conditions due it, the plant will grow. 
The bird's first chirp is the beginning of 
forest melody. The river widens as it 
flows. And as far back as the eye of 
science can penetrate, a universal rest- 
lessness applied laws by which an atten- 
uated, cloudy, heated mass of matter was 
cooled, broken into rings, infinitely dis- 
tributed and organized into constellations 
of scintillating worlds. The morning 
stars would never have sent forth their 
anthem of praise had not the spirit of 
enlargement accomplished its creative 
task. 

And laws similar to those that were 
active in creation and are operated in 
present nature apply in the multiplied 
realms of human activity. The theme, 

67 



68 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

''enlargement/' has fascinated man ever 
since his eyes were first opened upon the 
elastic world he had entered, and it will 
be his shining cloud by day and his pillar 
of fire at night until earth's last possi- 
bility shall have been developed. As each 
period in creation expanded the process, 
and as the passing seasons, under the 
experimenting touch of human genius, 
make larger and more choice the fruits 
of vine and tree and blend more gor- 
geously the colors of fragrant petal, 
each of the world's generations leaves it 
larger, richer and better. 

We worship at the shrine of the past 
and are wont to say, ''There were giants 
in those days." Nevertheless, the lore 
of the ages has been preserved, and to 
it is added the wisdom of the present. 
Beecher aptly said, "The world is God's 
great workshop for making men in." It 
might be further stated that God has not 
grown old, he is not weary, his hand has 
not lost its skill nor are his tools worn 
out. "He is the same yesterday, and 
to-day, and for ever." His shop is better 
equipped and organized and more active 



THE LARGER LIFE 69 

now than ever before. And his present 
handiwork surpasses the most splendid 
records of his ancient efforts. 

Continuous progress has been made 
in the sphere of scholarship. 

As the remote centuries passed, the 
peoples of earth translated their obser- 
vations into characters. At first these 
were only crude pictures. But they 
evolved into alphabets and sentences and 
theses, until classics took permanent form 
and the names of men were preserved as 
a consequence of their learning. Back 
in the hoary past, a country here and 
there added an occasional name to the 
brief list of celebrities. But the time 
came when scholars were more numer- 
ous, and each generation and all populous 
centers pointed with pride to their sages. 

The principle enunciated by the illus- 
tration, ''Except a grain of wheat fall 
into the earth and die, it abideth by itself 
alone; but if it die, it beareth much 
fruit/' is as operative in the province of 
thought as it is on the farm or in any 
other capacity. To employ another illus- 
tration, real thinking is tearing down 



70 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

the old Structure and building a new one 
— casting aside the decayed timbers and 
misfit stones, but incorporating in the 
new all the worth of the old. By this 
process the world has always thought 
and will always think. The scholarship 
of each generation stands upon the 
shoulders of that in the preceding gen- 
eration; it therefore stands higher and 
enjoys a broader, clearer vision. We 
honor such names as Plato and Socrates, 
and even Confucius and Buddha, to- 
gether with Erasmus and Newton and 
hundreds of others in both the distant 
and immediate past. But it would be the 
quintessence of an extremely narrow and 
silly veneration to acclaim any of these 
men even the peers of leading specialists 
in the present-day scholarship of the 
world. Our twentieth-century learning, 
also, will fall into the ground and come 
forth anew, and thus, as time rolls on, 
the wisdom of the world will expand. 

Also, with due respect to Wendell 
Phillips' celebrated lecture on ^The Lost 
Arts" and all other affirmations on the 
subject, the genius of the world has gone 



THE LARGER LIFE 71 

Steadily forward. It is perfectly safe to 
assert that the present age looks down 
from the dizzy heights of invention and 
material accomplishment upon all its 
predecessors, the pyramids, ancient em- 
balming, a Spanish species of glass that 
would bend and not break, and other 
traces of superior genius in the olden 
times, to the contrary notwithstanding. 
Genius is ever progressive. 

We frequently complain that condi- 
tions in every department of human life 
are bad, and we should; complaint must 
always precede treatment. However, 
comparison will prove to any student of 
history that our social, moral and relig- 
ious life is an improvement upon that of 
any period in the past, since the early 
morning of limited facilities in the hands 
of the evil spirit. 

If the world has passed out of its 
infancy and through its youth, it is still 
on the Mount Ambition of its strong, 
young manhood, and its ripest, most 
fruitful and greatest ages are yet to be. 

And as the life of the world is en- 
larged, individual opportunity presents 



72 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

itself in splendor more fully orbed with 
each passing year. 

The time was when rulers were born 
and nobility was a formal heritage. But 
the spirit of expansion braved the perils 
of unsailed seas and discovered the new 
world. Here, under the inspiration 
afforded by virgin territory, musical 
forests and unlimited possibilities, a 
people, roaming the country and staking 
their claims at will, developed in knowl- 
edge, ambition and power. The immen- 
sity of their new home caused them to 
dream of liberty. The might of the 
trees and rivers and mountains, the dash 
of the wild animal and the bravery and 
endurance of the savage were absorbed 
by their unfolding life. And, as a nat- 
ural result, the time came when the yoke 
of tyranny was trampled beneath their 
feet. 

The new form of government has 
unfolded in thrift, power and influence 
until it has fascinated and is unsettling 
the nations around the globe. Freedom 
is pushing its claims to the uttermost 
parts of the earth, and it is gaining 



THE LARGER LIFE 73 

ground with each setting sun. Republic- 
anism will yet unfurl its banners in 
every land. Even now, monarchical 
forms of government are self-contradic- 
tory. The throne-palace is a place where- 
in the victims of fate spend uneasy lives. 
The crown, though endured, is no longer 
feared, nor is it recognized as the embodi- 
ment of supreme national power. The 
idea of governments ''of the people, for 
the people and by the people" is rapidly 
prevailing. 

And the greatest boon held forth by 
the philanthropic nand of democracy is 
its winsome invitation, urging every one 
of every station to come out of serfdom 
into nobility and to be thrilled by the 
heart-throbs of the world's abounding 
life. We have seen the rail-splitter and 
canal-boy go to the White House. The 
awkward Western lad is now the world's 
money-king. A Philadelphia newsboy 
became the merchant prince of the world. 
A blacksmith, a generation ago, laid by 
his apron and began speaking to the 
world from a New York pulpit. Sons 
of toil preside over great institutions of 



74 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

learning and shine in literary circles. 
Every American door is open to every 
class. 

And in countries that still maintain 
and boast the shell of a pretended nobil- 
ity, the opportunity of individual merit 
is accomplishing its heaven-born mission. 
One of the most celebrated and influential 
preachers England has had in the last 
half -century began life as a cobbler. And 
the most powerful man in Britain to-day 
was a Welsh boy with neither fortune 
nor family rank. 

It has been said that our modern 
methods of transmitting messages have 
made the world a whispering-gallery, and 
that our modern methods of travel have 
reduced its size. And it can be just as 
truthfully said that the inventions and 
discoveries — scientific, commercial, so- 
ciological, governmental and religious — 
are constantly expanding the world. 

Seeing, then, the perpetual enlarge- 
ment of the world in all departments of 
its life, ordained of God and guided by 
his counsel, ''what manner of persons 
ought we to be?'* 



THE LARGER LIFE 75 

If Paul were here, I think he would 
answer: ''Be ye also enlarged/' 

Lew Wallace wrote: 'The smallest 
bird can not light upon the greatest tree 
without sending a shock to its most dis- 
tant fiber/' And an apostle wrote: ''No 
man liveth unto himself." 

If these classics hew to the line, and 
if it be true that ''influence is eternal,'' 
each hour of every life either helps en- 
large or retards the enlargement of God's 
world. The man who thinks only of 
making money, or the woman whose am- 
bition respects nothing higher than social 
success, misses the real object of life, 
and is therefore deprived of its greatest 
vibrations and its most thrilling pleasures. 

"My mission," said Carey, "is to 
preach, and I make shoes to defray 
expenses." 

Every age calls, in thunder tones, for 
men and women of his type — people 
whose feet are on the earth, but whose 
heads are above the clouds. They con- 
stitute the real mental, social, moral and 
religious nobility of the race. In the 
language of the poets: 



76 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

"It matters not how long one lives, but how." 

"That life is long which answers life's great end." 

"We live in deeds, not in years; in thoughts, not in 

breaths ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

Channing said: ^'Life is a fragment, 
a moment between two eternities, influ- 
enced by all that has preceded and to in- 
fluence all that follows. The only way 
to illumine it is by extent of view." And 
Paul exclaimed: ''O king Agrippa, I was 
not disobedient unto the heavenly vision." 

Every life should acquire and faith- 
fully follow a clear, well-defined vision — 
a vision of duty which leads on and on, 
ever expanding and increasing in bright- 
ness, until it goes down in the full-orbed 
evening splendor of divine approbation. 

What a privilege — that of living in 
line with the Throne ! 

Concerning all whose desires and pur- 
poses and plans and efforts accord with 
the divine program, Jesus said: ^T came 
that they may have life, and may have 
it abundantly." The abounding life — 
the life that expands and throbs! The 



THE LARGER LIFE 77 

life that does not descend into the tomb 
of mortaHty, but ascends into eternal 
expansion and joy ! 

"Build thee more stately mansions, 
O my soul, 

As the swift seasons roll ! 
Leave thy low-vaulted past ! 
Let each new temple, nobler than the last, 
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast, 
Till thou, at length, art free, 
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea/' 



IX. 

MISSION OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 

*'As we have opportunity, let us work that which is 
good toward all men, and especially toward them that 
are of the household of faith." — Gal. 6: 10. 

Heaven might be called life's goal — 
the final reward. But heaven, as it is 
generally understood, is not the primary 
object of the Christian life. ^'We are 
saved to serve." 

Paul wrote: "Let this disposition be 
in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.'' 

The disposition of the Master, that 
of working good in the lives of others, 
is the mantle he let fall upon the shoul- 
ders of his followers when he ascended. 

The church is the Saviour's repre- 
sentative in the world. To his disciples 
down through all the centuries he says: 
''Ye are the salt of the earth." 

God is glorified in our own salvation, 
to which special attention should con- 
stantly be given. And if, according to 
the emphatic declaration that we must 

78 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 79 

^'work out our own salvation" — a task 
involving our attitude toward the lost 
and suffering — the conclusion is apparent 
that he is glorified in the salvation of 
others through our instrumentality. I 
am my brother's keeper. 

Seneca said: 'The good man differs 
from God only in duration.'' With him 
we may not entirely agree. Yet we 
know that within every one there is what 
the ancients called ''a spark of divinity.'' 
We are made in the image of God. By 
sin we are polluted, our sensibilities are 
dulled and our kinship to him is obscured. 
But in Christ the soul can be cleansed 
and the divine nature recovered. Al- 
though, as individuals, we did not begin 
with God, we can partake of his attri- 
butes and live with him through all 
eternity. 

The divine life and power can be per- 
petuated and increased within us, how- 
ever, only through vigorous exercise, and 
this exercise respects the duties specified 
in the text. 

No matter what occurs in the pool 
to disturb its waters, it does not go 

6 



80 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

forth to refresh the surrounding earth; 
hence it stagnates and disappears. 

The Dead Sea receives, but does not 
give; therefore its name. 

Many people, Hke the indolent pool, 
have a very limited sphere. Consequent- 
ly their destructive influence is not so 
far-reaching as is that of others, and the 
pollution arising from their indifference 
to duty concentrates its death-dealing 
power upon their own lives until they 
finally pass out of the world and the 
minds of its inhabitants. 

Others are like the Dead Sea, in 
whose waters no refined organism can 
live and from whose shores a sickly 
breath that makes barren the soil is 
blown. They are so situated in life, 
politically, financially, socially, religiously 
and otherwise, that blessings flow into 
them from all sides. But everything they 
receive is retained, and from them goes 
forth a deadly atmosphere that withers 
the tender plants of human progress with 
which it comes in contact. 

If, by nature or circumstances, the 
scope of one's influence is limited, how 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 81 

much better to receive and give like the 
brook, and thereby perpetuate his useful- 
ness and happiness in sparkling, musical 
glory ! 

And if, like the Great Lakes whose 
waters are alive with food for the hun- 
gry, on whose waves commerce floats 
and along whose shores vegetation grows 
and cities flourish, we become conspicuous 
in business, society, state, church or any 
other capacity, duty — the voice of God — 
demands that, to the fullest extent of 
our ability, we must refresh the race, 
feed its life and carry its burdens. 

Milton wrote: ''Good, the more com- 
municated, the more abundant grows/' 

The figures, just employed, illustrate 
the central thought of our theme — use- 
fulness. But they do not adequately 
represent the constant development essen- 
tial to the successful Christian life. The 
liberality of springs and lakes keeps 
them pure and makes them useful, but it 
does not increase their supplies, and 
expansion is impossible. 

We read in the Bible that ^^it is more 
blessed to give than it is to receive,'' and 



82 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

that ''the Hberal soul shall be made fat." 
Also, ''Give, and it shall be given unto 
you; good measure, pressed down, and 
shaken together, and running over/' 

One grand blessing of giving over 
that of receiving is the retroactive influ- 
ence of the benefaction on the soul that 
bestows it. 

The teacher^s mind grows as a conse- 
quence of and in proportion to his efforts 
to instruct his pupils. The benefactor 
of his race is ever emptying himself and 
making room for the inflow that enlarges 
his capacity; 

"And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of 

water, 
That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, 
Whose leaf also doth not wither; 
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." 

As the tree gives its foliage, fra- 
grance and fruit, it receives from the 
earth, atmosphere and sun the properties 
essential to its health and growth. And 
if we bless the world with the rich foli- 
age, delicious fragrance and choice fruits 
of usefulness, it will return to us, mani- 
fold, the things we most need and that 
can be possessed in no other way. 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 83 

Growth can be neither inherited nor 
bestowed; it must be acquired. It can 
be acquired only as the laws it recognizes 
are applied. And these laws are applied 
by men and women who are unselfish and 
active. 

Active righteousness is essential not 
only to a healthy development of the 
spiritual nature, but likewise the fulfill- 
ment of our obligations, assumed when 
we accept Christ and join his church. 

Salvation in Christ involves the soul, 
rejoicing in it, in a debt to the whole 
world. 

Realizing that he was debtor to the 
Greek and the barbarian and to the wise 
and the unwise, Paul exclaimed: ''Neces- 
sity is laid upon me, for woe is unto me 
if I preach not the gospel." 

Our obligations are no less binding 
than were his. We owe the world a 
Saviour, and if we die without doing all 
we can to liquidate the debt, dishonesty 
will be charged against us in the judg- 
ment. The mission of the church is 
world-wide, and the responsibility rests 
upon all its members. 



84 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

There is, however, a specification in 
the passage to which I have called your 
attention. 

As the members of our own homes 
are nearer and dearer to us than strang- 
ers, and are therefore entitled to our 
most immediate and best attention, the 
household of faith has special claims 
upon us. 

Notwithstanding his zeal in reform 
and benevolent work, it is impossible to 
admire the man who neglects his own 
home. To quote Paul: 'Tf any provideth 
not for his own, and especially his own 
household, he hath denied the faith and 
is worse than an unbeliever." 

The statement respects the provision 
men should make for their families. But, 
in its larger meaning, it emphasizes our 
responsibility concerning the temporal, 
moral and spiritual welfare of our kins- 
folk in Christ. ''Let us work that which 
is good toward all men, and especially 
toward them that are of the household 
of faith." 

God neither demands nor expects im- 
possibilities at our hands. Our ability 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 85 

is very limited, and the necessities of our 
fellow-men, both temporal and spiritual, 
to which we can not respond are as the 
sands on the shore. The author of our 
text realized this when he wrote; ''As 
we have opportunity/' 

Disraeli declared: ^'Opportunity is 
more powerful even than conquerors and 
prophets/' 

And Ruskin said: "God never im- 
poses a duty without giving the time to 
perform it.'' He might have added the 
word "opportunity." For opportunity 
and duty have been eternally wedded, and 
it is impossible to separate them. Con- 
sequently, they always appear together. 
If either is in the background, the one 
standing out prominently will invariably 
introduce its mate. A duty, therefore, 
without its opportunity is imaginary. 

Hence we must improve our oppor- 
tunities if we wish "the spirit of all 
beauty" to kiss us in "the path of duty." 

Lost opportunities! They can not be 
confined in dark closets; their skeletons 
push back the bolts of all locks and come 
out into every room. They dance, phan- 



86 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

tom-like, over the misspent life; they 
stand as accusers in the death-chamber; 
they torture souls in hell. 

Shakespeare did not draw on his 
fancy when he wrote: *'Who seeks, and 
will not take when once 'tis offered, shall 
never find it more/' 

Our efforts may be feeble at times, 
and put forth at random, but, if unselfish 
and persistent, they will live and be effec- 
tual. No pure thought, word or deed 
can perish. And if any of their kind 
apparently falls into the ground and 
dies, it will not abide alone, but will 
spring forth and bear multiplied fruit. 
Honest service is eternal. 

The power of words and deeds, often 
considered too trivial to engage one's 
attention, may prove miraculous in its 
results. One remark in an indifferent 
sermon, delivered by an ordinary preach- 
er on a stormy night when only a few 
people were assembled in the church, re- 
sulted in the conversion of Charles Had- 
don Spurgeon. And an old, pocket-worn 
tract, placed in the hand of a little boy 
by a poor English peddler whose name 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE 87 

has not been preserved, gave the world 
a Wilberforce and a Baxter. 

Longfellow's verses upon the life that 
is usefully inclined are as valuable as 
they are beautiful: 

*T shot an arrow into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where; 
For so swiftly it flew, the sight 
Could not follow it in its flight. 

"I breathed a song into the air; 
It fell to earth, I knew not where ; 
For who hath sight so keen and strong 
That it can follow the flight of song? 

"Long, long afterward, in an oak, 
I found the arrow still unbroke; 
And the song, from beginning to end, 
I found again in the heart of a friend." 

The world may not applaud us, and 
we may never look upon all the fruits 
of our labors in this life. But in heaven 
the successes of our poor efforts will 
dazzle our astonished vision as the light 
of divine approval falls upon them. 



X. 

THE UNSHAKEN LIFE 

"None of these things move me." — Acts 20 : 24. 

The Authorized Version represents 
Paul as having said to the Ephesian 
elders, after prophesying the afflictions 
that awaited him: ^'None of these things 
move me." And, although it may not 
be authorized by the manuscripts, the 
declaration is characteristic of Paul. 
Hence, we shall accept it as King James* 
translators present it and make it the 
basis of this discourse. 

In our time, especially in civilized 
countries, people are not often persecuted 
for righteousness' sake. Nevertheless, 
we are all in constant peril. Everywhere 
and every day we are likely to face situ- 
ations that will unsettle our faith or 
swerve us from duty's path, unless we 
are ever ready to say: ''None of these 
things move me." 

A well-educated, successful business 



THE UNSHAKEN LIFE 89 

man recently said in my presence: ^'Until 
the ministers cast aside their differences 
and all teach the same things, TU not 
believe what any of them say." And he 
represents multitudes. 

For the attitude of all such, the 
church will, to an extent, be held respon- 
sible. And it is my honest conviction 
that, in the judgment, hundreds and 
thousands who lead prayerful, active lives 
in churches will be surprised to find the 
sin of sectarianism recorded against 
them. I am also positive that all who 
originate and are leaders in the perpet- 
uation of religious strife will be held 
severely accountable for the unwise 
course they shall have pursued. 

However, these unfortunate divisions 
in the church will not afford the man or 
woman who, as a result of shallow think- 
ing, deliberately lets religion alone, an 
adequate excuse. In business, politics, 
medical science and every other sphere 
of human thought, there are conflicting 
theories. And the man who exercises 
his franchise on election day or employs 
a physician in time of illness, and at the 



90 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

same time gives the Christian religion 
a wide berth because there is not perfect 
agreement among its teachers, is woe- 
fully inconsistent, to say the least. 

Also, while clashing doctrines keep 
many out of the church, perhaps even 
more are kept out by local church wran- 
gles and the lack of accord between the 
professions and practices of church peo- 
ple. ''It is human to err.'' And it will 
be many a year yet until the dove of 
peace will keep its wings always spread 
over every local church and every church- 
member lives up to the full measure of 
his responsibility. Churches should ever 
guard against strife, and church-members 
should proscribe the sin of inconsistency. 
These things are condemned by both 
Scripture and common sense. Yet it is 
childish, in the extreme, for any one to 
leave the church or never join it because 
he can not throw the light of his Diogenes 
lantern upon human perfection. 

Nor are people who are so thoroughly 
anchored in the church that they would 
never think of ''quitting" on account of 
disturbances and irregularities exempt 



THE UNSHAKEN LIFE 91 

from danger. Theories strung on mis- 
applied Scripture and set with real gems 
of truth are often fascinating. Fads that 
mix truth and error so ingeniously that 
the keenest logic is necessary to uncover 
the deception are abroad in every land, 
and they usually appeal to the most 
devout. Some of the most religious peo- 
ple of my acquaintance have been led 
astray by wild teaching. Some whose 
credulity is thus imposed upon return to 
the church. I knew one man who fol- 
lowed a cult until he discovered that its 
main object was the depletion of his 
purse, then he came back to his old pew. 
The majority, however, go from one 
ridiculous system to another, until they 
wander out into the wildernesses of ^^free 
thought,'' and many are even stranded on 
the barren sands of unbelief. Unless 
one is exceedingly careful, the dazzle of 
some side issue will move him from the 
solid rock of his faith before he is 
aware of it. There is only one safe way 
— study the New Testament until a sure 
foundation is found, then look around 
upon all doctrines that in any way con- 



92 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

flict with it and say: ''None of these 
things move me/^ 

Doctrine — the teachings of the Scrip- 
tures — constitutes the theory of conver- 
sion and Christian Hving. And we should 
strive to be sound in it because it is 
essential. But, as the program is not 
the play, doctrine is not the Christian 
life. It would be quite monotonous for 
an audience to spend an evening in an 
entertainment hall reading the program 
of a play. When the curtain goes up, 
the people's interest is transferred from 
the bit of paper in their hands to the 
stage. Professing Christians are on a 
great stage, and the world is their audi- 
ence. And it is a critical audience. The 
people out in the auditorium are not 
numskulls. They are keen, and they 
are sufficiently acquainted with the Scrip- 
tural outline of the performance to de- 
tect every flaw in its presentation. Hence, 
it might be said that the world expects 
of Christians about what God expects of 
them. And what God and the world 
expect of them, they themselves know 
they ought to do. It is therefore a 



THE UNSHAKEN LIFE 93 

threefold demand, and a single word 
expresses it — ''stability/' 

How many are rendered unstable in 
all their ways by the love of money, or 
the pinch of poverty, or the whirl of 
pleasure ! These things move multitudes ; 
a few return to the rock of their salva- 
tion; but perhaps the majority perish in 
the quicksands. 

And many a Christian experience is 
unsettled by trial. We are in a world 
of pain and sorrow and adversity. 

"Women and men in the streets do mingle, 
Yet, with itself, each soul standing single; 

Deep out of sympathy, moaning its moan : 
Holding and having its brief exultation, 
Making its lonesome and low lamentation. 

And fighting its terrible conflicts alone." 

''Each man shall bear his own bur- 
den.'' Some bear their burdens grace- 
fully, others do not. It is because some 
are not moved away from God by the 
trials of life, while others are. To put 
it more succinctly, the faith of some re- 
mains unshaken, no matter what the 
storm; that of others is unsettled when 
tried. 

'To them that love God, all things 



94 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

work together for good/' This means 
that, if we are grounded in the faith, 
prosperity, adversity, pain and pleasure 
will be our servants, never our masters. 

The tree that is well planted is bene- 
fited not only by the sunshine, zephyrs 
and gentle showers, but by the storms 
as well. When swayed by the winds, its 
roots take a deeper hold in the earth. 
The majestic oak represents the Paul type 
of Christian. Paul was tempted; evil 
presented itself to him as it did to the 
Master and does to every one. He had 
physical infirmities, his heart knew the 
pangs of sorrow, he wrestled with poverty 
after having enjoyed luxury, and he was 
bitterly persecuted by relentless enemies. 
Yet he said: 'T have learned, in whatso- 
ever state I am, therein to be content. I 
know how to be abased, and I know also 
how to abound; in everything and in all 
things have I learned the secret both to 
be filled and to be hungry, both to abound 
and to be in want. I can do all things in 
him that strengtheneth me." 

But Paul is not alone upon the stage 
of Christian living — a stage of endurance 



THE UNSHAKEN LIFE 95 

when assailed by temptation borne in 
upon the wings of either prosperity or 
adversity, pain or pleasure, joy or sor- 
row. All in whose hearts and lives the 
principles of the gospel are firmly estab- 
lished stand with him. And, including 
himself with them, he exclaims: ''Nay, in 
all these things we are more than con- 
querors through him that loved us. For 
I am persuaded, that neither death, nor 
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor 
powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any 
other creature, shall be able to separate 
us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus our Lord !" 

The life "hid with Christ in God,'' 
the stability of which has just been so 
hilariously described, is for all who will 
have it. It is ''stedfast, unmovable" on 
the Rock of Ages, because it is ''always 
abounding in the work of the Lord." 
Only the work-filled life successfully re- 
sists temptation and remains unmoved. 

And this is the life worth while. It 
makes the world wiser, better and hap- 
pier. It is a joy to the soul that operates 



96 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

it. Its end is the beginning of another 
greater Hfe which the cycles of eternity 
will not move. 

''Every one therefore that heareth 
these words of mine, and doeth them, 
shall be likened unto a wise man, who 
built his house upon the rock; and the 
rain descended, and the floods came, and 
the winds blew, and beat upon that house ; 
and it fell not; for it was founded upon 
the rock." 



XI. 

THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 

'Tor what the law could not do, in that it was 
weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the 
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in 
the flesh : that the ordinance of the law might be ful- 
filled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the 
Spirit."— Rom. 8:3, 4. 

This text is unique, in that it affords 
a complete analysis of itself. 

It is an epitome of the gospel. It 
therefore implies all that is taught upon 
the subject of human redemption in both 
the Old Testament and the New, and 
presents the Christ in all the beauty, 
splendor and strength of his majestic 
character. 

Whether law is, in itself, a force or 
merely the method of action, or whether 
nature is governed by general laws or 
according to them, are hair-splitting ques- 
tions I am perfectly willing for the 
experts to settle. 

It is evident, however, that the rev- 

97 



98 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

olutions of the heavenly bodies, in and 
with their respective spheres, together 
with the constant changes that keep all 
nature, down to the atom, in a state of 
restlessness, are produced and controlled 
by law. 

If we observe natural law in any of 
its numerous classifications, we find it 
demanding and receiving absolute obedi- 
ence. 

Law is inflexible and therefore posi- 
tive. A glance into only one or two 
realms of its activity will verify the 
statement. 

In the prologue of a primary treatise 
on physiology, the following illustration, 
in substance, appears. Nature has a bank 
in which the physical strength of every 
man, woman and child is on deposit. 
With her patrons she is just, but never 
lenient; the interest on deposits and loans 
is calculated with infinite exactness. 
Whenever we move, speak or think, 
blood-cells are sacrificed and the account 
is affected. At this bank accounts are 
never overdrawn. We will each, some- 
time, present at the paying-teller's win- 



THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 99 

dow a check that will not be honored. 
Our friends will whisper that we are 
dead. But it will simply be another case 
of a duly signed draft for one more 
breath having gone to protest. 

Vital law is exacting, but not more 
so than criminal law. 

There is no such thing as clemency 
of law. And when a court exercises 
clemency, the strict letter of the law is 
violated. The criminal may confess his 
guilt with penitent tears, and promise 
that, if time and opportunity are afforded 
him, he will redeem his character; his 
loved ones may sit within the enclosures 
of the bar and weep, and his faithful 
attorney may present an appeal in his 
behalf, so full of pathos that it causes 
a mist to gather before the eyes of both 
judge and jury. Nevertheless, the law 
provides a penalty he must pay. 

Law, strictly administered, has neither 
eyes with which to see distress nor 
heart with which to sympathize. It is 
therefore relentless. 

The moral law, originally inscribed 
upon the tablets of the human heart and 



100 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

afterward summed up in the code of 
Sinai, was and is as inflexible as natural, 
vital or criminal law. 

It specified to the original twain that 
they should not partake of the fruit in 
the midst of the garden. And when their 
disobedient hands parted the foliage of 
the forbidden tree, it drove them forth 
and became a flaming sword at the en- 
trance, lest they should return and par- 
take of the tree of life. 

It said to Cain, 'Thou shalt not kill.'' 
And when the dead man's blood cried 
unto it for vengeance, it placed an indel- 
ible mark upon the murderer and sent 
him forth a fugitive and a vagabond in 
the earth. 

It prohibited strange fire at the altar. 
And when Nadab and Abihu polluted 
their censers, it became a flame of fire 
which penetrated the tabernacle and 
licked their disobedient spirits into eter- 
nity. 

It said to Uzzah, a good man, ''Only 
consecrated hands may be laid on the ark 
of God." And when he touched the 
holy thing, doubtless to keep it from 



THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 101 

falling, he was smitten with death. The 
law recognized neither his righteousness 
nor the motive which prompted the illegal 
deed. He violated a given statute and 
paid the penalty ; that was all. 

Many other examples could be pre- 
sented, but these will suffice. 

The law exists to-day, and it will 
exist for all time; it is indestructible. 
And it condemns us all. For all have 
sinned, and the decree has gone forth, 
^The soul that sinneth, it shall die." The 
law can neither forgive nor forget sin; 
it recognizes nothing short of perfection. 

It was and is, therefore, weak 
through the flesh. And the reason is 
obvious; spirits residing in the flesh are 
too weak to keep its mandates. 

Who, then, can be saved? 

Our only hope is lifted up in the 
passage to which I have called your at- 
tention; what the law could not and can 
not do, grace has made possible. 

As the mercy-seat was between the 
priests of old and the law which con- 
demned them and their people, God's 
mercy in Christ has been forever estab- 



102 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

lished between his people and the code 
of condemnation. 

By nature we are in the pit of despair, 
going down, down into its bottomless 
darkness. But sweet strains of music, 
wafted from the heavenly choir, attract 
our attention. Lifting our eyes, we be- 
hold a shaft of light, proceeding from the 
Throne, on which is inscribed in letters 
of crimson, ''God so loved the world, that 
he gave his only begotten Son, that who- 
soever believeth on him should not perish, 
but have eternal life." 

If we believe what we read, we need 
go no farther down into the pit; we can 
ascend, as if on eagle's wings, until we 
shall at last regale ourselves in the maj- 
esty of our Redeemer's immediate pres- 
ence. 

Salvation is predicated on faith. '^By 
grace are ye saved, through faith.'' 

When Millet's famous picture was on 
exhibition in Buffalo about twenty years 
ago, I went to see it. While in its pres- 
ence, I availed myself of the opportunity 
to study the people as they came and 
went. Many glanced at the little paint- 



THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 103 

ing and said: ''Why, I see nothing so 
wonderful in that — only a church-spire 
in the distance, some broken ground and 
farming implements and two peasants 
with bowed heads." And they left with 
an air of disgust — they had each paid an 
admission fee of fifty cents. But some 
stood and looked, changing their positions 
occasionally, but worshiping all the while. 
Why the difference? Some were poet- 
ically inclined and others were not. Those 
in whose souls fancy ruled, saw the 
church-spire, the rough ground and im- 
plements of labor, the peasants — and 
vastly more. They beheld the miracle of 
the picture — the music of the Angelus, 
wafted from the village chimes, which 
inspired the devotion so conspicuous in 
the two faces. 

As art appeals to poetry in the soul, 
the gospel appeals to faith in the heart. 
''With the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness." 

Inspired from above, Matthew, Mark, 
Luke and John have placed two pictures 
— Gethsemane and Calvary — before the 
world. 



104 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

Gethsemane is a garden scene. It is 
night. The moon, half concealed by a 
cloud, looks down upon some shrubbery 
and a brook. Three men are asleep on 
the ground. And, removed from them a 
few paces, another man can be seen in an 
attitude of prayer. 

The masses glance at this picture — 
some declaring it possesses no merit, 
others carelessly remarking that it is 
good — and pass on. 

But believers continue their worship- 
ful inspection. They see the natural 
conditions, the three sleeping men, the 
lone man praying — and more. They rec- 
ognize the tempter striking at the weak- 
est point and prompting the petition: ^'If 
it be possible, let this cup pass from me." 
In the solemn background they behold 
the answer: ''Without the shedding of 
blood there is no remission of sin." Then, 
in the strange blending of colors sublime, 
they see resignation which finishes the 
prayer: ''Nevertheless not my will, but 
thine, be done." 

The world looks at Calvary and sees 
only a seething mass of humanity, three 



THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 105 

crosses and a man on each, and the after- 
noon sun growing dark in the sky. 

But the Christian's attention is riveted 
upon the central cross and its Victim. 
Commingled with the suffering depicted 
in his face we see love and forgiveness. 
Crashing down through the awful storm 
which raged about him, we see the heav- 
iest burden of the ages — the boulder 
that smote and broke his heart. And 
further investigation discloses a new de- 
velopment which, as it becomes fixed in 
the foreground, almost causes the blood 
in our veins to run cold — in that burden 
we behold our own sins! And we recall 
the apostle's statement: '^Christ died for 
lis." 

If our hearts pulsate with a living, 
active faith in the one of whom the 
prophet said, ^^He is mighty to save,'' 
we can, in reality, sing: 

"Oh, happy day, that fixed my choice 
On thee, my Saviour and my God ! 
Well may this glowing heart rejoice, 
And tell its raptures all abroad." 

A man once dreamed that while upon 
a journey he turned into an inviting cas- 



106 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

tie, situated in a thrifty, fragrant grove. 
Walking through a long corridor, he 
entered the great central room, which, he 
told himself, could not have been other 
than the most entrancing place in the 
world. Beneath his feet was a rich 
carpet. The walls were artistically fres- 
coed and elaborated with pictures — costly 
and inspiring. Flowers bloomed, foun- 
tains rippled and birds of finest plumage 
sang. The air was delicately perfumed, 
and strange, sweet music floated from 
he knew not where. The mellow light 
created a harmony of the whole which 
filled him with rapture, subdued but real. 
At length, consulting his watch, he de- 
cided to cut the ties that bound him to 
this delightful spot of bewildering splen- 
dor and resume his journey. But when 
he looked for a door, he could find none. 
Thinking he had been admitted by a blind 
door, he carefully examined the walls, 
but there was no exit. Going to the 
center, he observed that the room seemed 
smaller than at first. He inspected the 
situation more carefully, and was horri- 
fied to discover that the walls were 



THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL 107 

slowly but surely coming together. He 
called for help, and was answered only 
by the shrill, multiple-echo of his own 
voice. A change, also, came over every- 
thing. The carpet turned to rags on the 
floor and the frescoing mildewed on the 
wall. The flowers withered, the fountains 
dried up and the birds fell dead at his 
feet. The pictures that had charmed him 
changed to grinning, skeleton demons. 
The music ceased, and in its stead ser- 
pents hissed. The air was freighted with 
an odor difficult to breathe, and the light 
faded into semi-darkness. The walls 
came closer and closer together until he 
felt that he was within the narrow con- 
fines of a chimney. A terrible death 
seemed inevitable and immediate. 

But a voice said, ''Look up." He did, 
and beheld a hand just over his head. 
It grasped his upstretched hand warmly 
and tenderly, then lifted him up and out 
into the sunlight of heaven and gently 
placed him on the green earth again. 

This was only a dream. Yet how 
aptly it reveals the unbeliever's condition. 

The castle of unbelief is at times 



108 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

gilded and filled with pleasures that be- 
witch. But it invariably loses its charms. 

'It is not in man that walketh to 
direct his ways." Hence, human wisdom 
can devise no means of escape. Sin pun- 
ishes its own guests. Eventually, the un- 
believing soul will be crushed by the 
richly adorned walls within which it has 
reveled. 

There is, however, a still, small voice 
— the gospel — which says, ''Look up." 
And just above the head of every dis- 
tracted inmate of earth's deceptive prison, 
the beautiful, strong, pierced hand of the 
Redeemer waits to lovingly grasp the 
hand of obedient faith and lift the soul 
up and out of its peril into liberty and 

joy. 



XII. 
BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE 

"Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us." 
— Ps. 90:17. 

I have quoted the Authorized Version 
because it suppHes the word needed to 
introduce the theme. 

'Is beauty in the eye or in the ob- 
ject?'' This is a favorite question in 
college debating societies, and it is prob- 
ably of interest to an occasional advanced 
thinker. 

It is my opinion that beauty is in the 
object. But it must be admitted that 
without eyes it can not be seen. Further- 
more, some eyes are more capable of 
seeing beauty than others. Many eyes 
that are physically perfect can not see 
as much beauty as others that are dis- 
eased. The ability to see beauty is, per- 
haps, both hereditary and educational. 
The majority, if not all, have inherited 
the desire to see the beautiful. But I fear 

109 



110 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

none of us encourage this faculty to the 
fullest extent. It is our duty, and it 
should be our pleasure, to look for beauty 
and see it in nature, in art and in people. 

There is beauty in the storm, the sun- 
burnished and starlit skies, the rivers 
and lakes and oceans, the fish that curve 
in the waters, the birds that give life to 
the air, the animals that roam the earth, 
the forest and the field. 

There is beauty in the elegantly con- 
structed palace, the statue and the pic- 
ture. 

But nothing is so beautiful as a 
human being — I mean a beautiful human 
being. 

The dimpled babe reflects the beauty 
of all nature; in it we see the symmetry 
of animals, the blush of flowers and the 
brightness of sky. 

The innocent boy or girl is beautiful; 
there is beauty in the desires, pursuits, 
movements, and even the mischiefs, of 
youth. 

The middle-aged man or woman, 
whose life accords with the highest and 
best rules of society, is beautiful; there 



BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE 111 

is beauty in the face of every manly man 
and every womanly woman. 

And the old, whose lives have meas- 
ured up to the noblest standards, are 
beautiful; the white locks, sorrow-carved 
lines and dim eyes of age are all beau- 
tiful when linked with a clear conscience, 
sweetness, resignation, faith and hope. 

The beauty of the Lord is upon 
everything he has created, but it is most 
lavishly bestowed upon the creatures 
made in his own image — when not effaced 
by the cunning of the evil one. Physical 
attractions are God-given and should be 
appreciated, ministered unto and retained 
as long as possible. But they do not 
constitute the highest human beauty. 

Culture, likewise, is desirable, and it 
should receive constant attention. But 
even this is not real, deep-seated, abiding 
beauty. 

It has been said that ''beauty is only 
skin-deep.'^ But I do not agree with the 
statement. Beauty is as deep as the 
thoughts of the mind and the desires and 
purposes of the heart. The old saying, 
^'Beauty is as beauty does," is nearer the 



112 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

truth. Have we not all seen attractive 
men and women — people perfectly pro- 
portioned, with eyes, hair and complexion 
to match, and well educated — who were 
anything but beautiful? And have we 
not, on the other hand, seen people, 
favored by neither nature nor the advan- 
tages of polite society, who were beau- 
tiful? Real beauty comprises gentleness, 
positiveness, forbearance and honest 
efforts to fulfill life's noblest mission — 
whatever it may be — in the best possible 
way. 

In order to be beautiful, one must 
first have a desire to attain a character 
that will be good to look upon. Then he 
must translate the beauty of nature and 
art and other beautiful characters into 
himself, thereby pursuing a course that 
will gild his thoughts, tint his words and 
glorify his deeds. 

One essential in beauty is self-con- 
trol. The millions of the Rothschilds, the 
learning of Erasmus, the culture of Lord 
Chesterfield, the muscles of Apollo and 
the grace of Venus — all combined — will 
not constitute beauty if self-control be 



BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE 113 

left out of the character. The man or 
woman who storms or pouts, or goes to 
extremes in joy or sorrow, or is given to 
excess of any kind, lacks beauty, no mat- 
ter how otherwise endowed or accom- 
plished. 

Also, beauty is active, never passive. 
It must be attained if it is to be retained; 
if it is retained, it must be maintained, 
and activity is essential to its mainte- 
nance. The most beautiful people are 
therefore the most active; there is poetry 
in motion, and the more motion the more 
poetry. And beauty does not hate; it 
forgives. It is not covetous, but solic- 
itous for the pleasure and welfare of 
others. It is meek, tender, hopeful. All 
these characteristics emanate from the 
Lord. They take root in the heart and 
spring forth and bear fruit in the life. 
It is human beauty, and it is ''the beauty 
of the Lord our God.'' 

This beauty is for all who will have 
it. We have all seen it in official life and 
in private rank, in palace and in hovel, 
in silk and broadcloth and in rags, in 
the counting-house and at the work- 



114 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

bench and wash-tub, in the city and on 
the farm, in health and in sickness, in joy 
and in sorrow. Wherever a human being 
lives — however luxurious or destitute his 
situation — ''the beauty of the Lord" can 
unfold. 

In the early morning of the present 
era, a young man — of substantial build, 
broad of shoulders, hair and complexion 
dark, forehead wide and high, chin heavy 
and mouth large, nose aquiline, cheeks 
high, brows shaggy and eyes piercing — 
strode forth from obscurity and an- 
nounced himself the world's Teacher. 
Centuries prior to his advent, a prophet 
foretold his leading characteristics, and 
wrote : ''He hath no form nor comeliness ; 
and when we shall see him, there is no 
beauty that we should desire him." And 
the prophecy was fulfilled. He was de- 
spised and rejected by his own people — 
they regarded him simply as a son of 
toil, ungainly and lacking culture. But 
when he stood before a tribunal in answer 
to false charges filed against him, the 
governor pointed to him and said: "I 
find no fault in this man." And the 



BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE 115 

governor's verdict has never been re- 
versed. His followers have been, and are 
yet, criticized, and the institution he es- 
tablished has been assailed by the batter- 
ing-rams of centuries. But the Man 
himself is held in highest esteem. Some 
years ago, a gentleman stood before an 
audience composed of 'liberalists'' in 
New York. When, in his address, he 
referred to ''the church," the audience 
hissed. But when he mentioned the 
name '7^^^^/' ^ thousand hands ap- 
plauded. The world admires the ''Man 
of Galilee," and it always will, because 
he was manly, conscientious, firm, gentle 
and sympathetic. He promulgated the 
correct principles of human life and 
exemplified them in his contact with peo- 
ple and situations. "The beauty of the 
Lord our God" was upon him. Hence, 
notwithstanding the criticisms of scholar- 
ship, the world looks at him in the old- 
time word-picture: "His head is as the 
most fine gold, his locks are bushy, anc 
black as a raven. His eyes are as the 
eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, 
washed with milk, and fitly set. His 



116 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet 
flowers: his Hps Hke HHes, dropping 
sweet-smelHng myrrh. His hands are as 
gold rings set with the beryl: his belly 
is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires. 
His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon 
sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as 
Lebanon, excellent as the cedars. His 
mouth is most sweet : yea, he is altogether 
lovely/' 



xm. 

NEAR-SIGHTED PEOPLE 

"Seeing only what is near/' — 2 Pet. 1 : 9. 

This is the way it appears in the 
Revised text; ''cannot see afar off" is 
the phrase in the Authorized Version. 
Each emphasizes a prevaiHng near-sight- 
edness. 

Industrially, educationally, and possi- 
bly in some other respects, the world has 
long vision. But as a whole the world 
is, as it has always been, near-sighted. 
It has gone forward in every sphere. 
But its progress has been slow because 
it has lacked extended vision. 

If we imagine an army of men, al- 
most totally blind, following a regiment 
of men half-blind, before whom march 
a few men with good eyes, we will have 
a picture of the moving world. The 
masses are represented by the army; the 
recognized leaders — such as average 
statesmen, writers, lecturers, teachers, 

117 



118 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

charity workers and preachers — by the 
regiment; and the prophets — the men 
who are ahead of their times in each gen- 
eration — by the advance guard. 

Every sphere of world progress re- 
flects this picture. 

It is perfectly outlined in the world 
of politics. In every country, backward 
China not excepted, the far-sighted men 
are bending up the hill of political re- 
form and calling the larger body of 
leaders to '^come on''; that body, unable 
to get a clear view of the road, stumbles 
and makes slow progress, making it nec- 
essary for the prophets to stop often and 
wait long; while the larger body, more 
blind still, moves with even greater diffi- 
culty. In our own country, we have no 
trouble fitting this illustration to every 
political campaign. Nor is this country 
an exception to the rule. It likewise ap- 
plies to every session of a city council, 
State Legislature or National Congress, 
and to the sessions of deliberative bodies 
in all governments. 

We applaud patriotism of whatever 
kind, but it is only the far-sighted pa- 



NEAR-SIGHTED PEOPLE 119 

triotism that is leading the world to higher 
political ground. When the great world 
war is over and the reconstruction period 
ensues, there will be recognized leaders 
almost without number. But, as it has 
always been and will ever be, the prophets 
will march in front. 

In general reform movements, the 
same scene is enacted. To specify, a few 
in every community point to the saloon 
and the red light and insist that these 
evils should be abolished; the majority 
of the community's leaders say that they 
should be regulated; the community, as 
a whole, stumbles blindly on, content to 
let them alone. 

The propaganda against the liquor 
traffic, for example, has expanded like 
the century-plant. A few men in each 
of three generations have rushed ahead, 
shouting, ^^Annihilation !'' The larger 
body of leaders has held back and mum- 
bled, ^^Regulation.'' And the masses, 
scarcely able to see at all and thinking it 
no use to try any plan, have staggered 
along asleep. However, it is encouraging 
to note that leaders and masses in certain 



120 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

sections are seeing better than they used 
to and are keeping step with their proph- 
ets. And if the eye-salve, now being 
distributed over the country, doesn't run 
out — and it will not — all the people will 
see clearly and catch up with the proph- 
ets within a few years. Although of slow 
growth, the prohibition of the liquor 
traffic, like all other great reforms, has 
gained strength from both victory and 
defeat and moved steadily on, and its 
success is now assured. 

Time forbids a glance into all depart- 
ments of the world's life. And we shall 
therefore call attention to but one other. 
The same conditions we have observed 
in the state and in general reform are 
very conspicuous in the province of re- 
ligion. Pagan religions are progressive 
only up to a certain point, from which 
they start backward. The Christian re- 
ligion alone is continuously progressive, 
and, aside from Scriptural prophecies, its 
nature indicates that its life and mission 
will expand through all time. But, to be 
l)rief, such men as Luther and Wesley 
and Campbell have gone ahead because 



NEAR-SIGHTED PEOPLE 121 

of their superior vision; the larger bodies 
of leaders have slowly followed, half- 
seeing, and the masses have pursued 
their weary way in very dim light. 

The Reformation is not yet complete. 
The Master's prayer for the union of his 
people that the world might believe on 
him must be answered. The men of 
vision in all the communions are now 
preaching Christian union. The majority 
of the preachers, however, are still satis- 
fied with the old order, and, from their 
viewpoint, the far-sighted brethren are 
^^queer." And back of the general pulpit, 
the great Christian army is moving to- 
ward union at a snail's pace because the 
light is so dim. Also, the far-seeing men 
and women in all denominations are 
preaching missions and liberality; some 
are even proclaiming the Bible doctrine 
of ''tithing.'' Back of these are the 
preachers and other leaders who think 
only of advancing local interests; they 
can not see beyond the limits of their 
own congregations. And in the rear are 
the multitudes who belong to the church 
for purely selfish reasons; their only 



122 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

thought respecting the Christian reHgion 
is that of attending ^^services" a Httle, 
praying and singing a Httle, giving a 
little and going to heaven when they die. 

The prophets in every line of march 
have always been despised, and they are 
yet. They are called ''fanatics/' Wen- 
dell Phillips, Henry Ward Beecher, Har- 
riet Beecher Stowe and others were ma- 
ligned on account of their antislavery 
views. Far-sighted men in the church 
have always been misunderstood. Gough 
and the agitators on down the line of 
temperance and prohibition have been 
ridiculed, and within the last year Hob- 
son was crucified politically because of 
his views on the liquor question. The 
prophets of old were stoned; Jesus was 
nailed to a tree; the apostles were im- 
prisoned and put to death; the far- 
sighted all down through the Christian 
era have been persecuted; the advance 
agents of reform to-day are scorned and 
sometimes made to sufifer; and it will 
ever be thus until the world shall cease 
to see ''men as trees walking.'' 

Prophets are not immediately honored 



NEAR-SIGHTED PEOPLE 123 

in their own country and time, but honors 
are always eventually conferred upon 
them — usually after they are dead. It is 
no unusual thing for our country to look 
back upon the career of a great man and 
say, ''He ought to have been President/' 
but the people who lived in his day did 
not think so. The halls of fame will 
eventually be crowded with men and 
women jeered at by the people of their 
time. It shows that the world moves 
forward and always catches up with the 
positions of its prophets. All reforms 
will go slowly on to completion. How 
any one can read history or observe the 
signs of his own time and be a pessimist 
is beyond my comprehension. 

It is better to be a persecuted prophet 
than a near-sighted jeerer at prophets, or 
a sleep-walker. I would rather have been 
Jeremiah than one of the people who 
scorned him. I would rather have been 
Stephen than the high priest who insti- 
gated his death. I would rather be Hob- 
son to-day than one of the rum-bought 
tricksters who accomplished his defeat or 
the present incumbent of the office he 



124 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

sought. 'It is better to be right than to 
be President!'' 

Perhaps none of us see as clearly as 
we should. It is, therefore, our duty to 
investigate the various issues that con- 
front our time. It should be regarded 
a disgrace for any one in this day of 
ready information to be ignorant concern- 
ing vital, current questions. Years ago, 
when world news was a month old before 
one could get it and literature was scarce 
and high-priced, the out-of-date man may 
have had an excuse. But that time has 
passed. And it might be added that 
nothing is so ridiculous as the spectacle 
of a man or woman who is not posted 
concerning an issue presuming to criti- 
cize the stand maintained by another who 
has looked over it, under it, around it 
and through it, and can discuss it in 
terms of positive information. 

Finally, God is ''in Christ, reconciling 
the world unto himself." Jesus is the 
great Physician, opening the eyes of the 
world to its adverse situations and like- 
wise to the truth which alone will correct 
them. When on earth, he personally 



NEAR-SIGHTED PEOPLE 125 

touched the eyes of the blind and restored 
their sight. Now he touches the eyes of 
the world with his gospel, and its sight is 
restored in proportion to the treatment 
it receives. The great Physician does 
not compel his treatment, but diagnoses 
the malady, volunteers advice and re- 
sponds to the inclinations of his patient. 

The gospel, however, is being recog- 
nized, more and more, as the only agency 
of world redemption. It is gradually 
lengthening the vision of every human 
policy, and eventually all world move- 
ments will see clearly their way and 
make rapid strides toward perfection. 

Jesus is also the great advance proph- 
et — so far ahead in the highway of life 
that the minor prophets of longest vision 
frequently lose sight of him. But the 
vision of all will have been so lengthened, 
by and by, that ^^every eye shall see him." 
Then all will walk, with heads erect and 
steady tread, in the highway of holiness, 
and sin will be no more. 



XIV. 
HUNTING EXPEDITIONS 

"He was a mighty hunter before the Lord/' — Gen. 
10:9. 

This statement is made concerning 
Nimrod, the son of Cush. He was a 
king, but very little is known of his 
career. The most distinguished char- 
acteristic of his history is the reference 
to his prowess as a hunter. So distin- 
guished is this characteristic that he is 
referred to as having been ''a mighty 
hunter." 

Hunting is usually regarded as a 
sport. But it is more than this. It is 
an all-absorbing occupation, one which 
guides the destinies of nations, institu- 
tions, enterprises and individuals. 

Every man, every woman, every boy, 
every girl, is a hunter — all are ever in 
pursuit of something. 

Hunting is seeking, and constant seek- 
ing finds the coveted object. 

126 



HUNTING EXPEDITIONS 127 

The man who seeks the pleasures of 
sin finds them, and with them the reward 
of the unrighteous. And all who seek 
the better life will find it, and with it the 
reward of the righteous. We should, 
therefore, be careful what we seek, and, 
finding the ''pearls of great price,'' we 
should guard them with a greater vigi- 
lance than that with which the miser 
guards his gold. 'The eyes of the Lord 
are in every place, beholding the evil and 
the good.'' He watches us by day and 
by night. And when life's hunting expe- 
dition shall have reached its end, he will 
reckon with us concerning the course 
pursued. We should each strive, there- 
fore, to be "a mighty hunter before the 
Lord." 

I have seen a picture representing the 
hunter's return home — his dog trotting 
behind him and on his shoulder a gun, 
depending from whose barrel was a 
cluster of the various game he had 
secured. 

All hunters have not the same taste; 
some seek one kind of game, some an- 
other. Nor does every sportsman pay 



128 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

much attention to the beauties and sub- 
limity of nature; his time is usually 
consumed in looking for signs of the 
particular game he seeks. 

But sportsmen are not the only hunt- 
ers of the wilds. Many go to field and 
wood just as intent upon capturing some- 
thing, but they give little or no attention 
to the things upon which the eye and 
efforts of the sportsman are riveted. 

The man whose ear is attuned to 
harmony spends a day in the forest, hunt- 
ing melody. Nature has voices of which 
he never grows weary. For him there is 
music in the chirp of the cricket and the 
warble of the bird, the murmur of the 
brook and the wail of the wind. He levels 
his gun upon every song and brings 
down sound after sound, returning home 
in a state of ecstasy, carrying with him 
a wealth of melody. 

The man whose eye has been trained 
to the beautiful hunts for the richest 
blending of colors. He studies the 
plumage of birds, the flowers of the 
fields, the foliage of trees, the glories of 
the skies and the fancies in the clouds; 



HUNTING EXPEDITIONS 129 

he snatches sparkle from everything, and 
returns home laden with beauty. 

Such hunting expeditions are for all. 
We may not be able to catch melody as 
it flies, as does the trained musician, or 
to photograph or paint beauty, like the 
artist. Nevertheless, there are charms 
in nature all may seek and possess, and 
the possession of these things is soul 
wealth. All who look upon the grandeur 
and beauties and listen to the melodies 
of nature are vastly remunerated for 
both time and ejffort. It is one of the 
ways in which God speaks to man. 'The 
heavens declare the glory of God, and the 
firmament showeth forth his handiwork." 

Lay by your labor for a day or an 
hour and take you to the wood, the field, 
the park; it will enrich you. If this be 
impossible, lift up your face and smile 
upon the sky and stars; they are your 
friends and they will smile back at you. 
Stand by the window and commune with 
the storm that swirls through the heavens 
or the snowflakes that play ''hide and 
seek" about your home; they convey 
messages divine. Search the flower 



130 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

petals and they will fill your sours ex- 
chequer with glory. The queen of Sheba 
made a long journey to look upon the 
grandeur with which Israel's greatest 
king had surrounded himself. But Jesus 
observed: ''Consider the lilies of the 
field, how they grow; they toil not, 
neither do they spin: yet I say unto you, 
that even Solomon in all his glory was 
not arrayed like one of these.'' 

All nature will tell you there is a 
God and that he loves you, and the 
strength you gather from nature excur- 
sions will make lighter your burdens and 
happier and more useful your life. 

Humanity itself is a vast, dense for- 
est into which we daily journey. None 
we meet are perfect, nor are any wholly 
depraved. Both good and evil are in 
man's nature. When mingling with 
people, listening to their speech, looking 
upon their acts and noting the expres- 
sions in their faces and their attitudes, 
we can gather and bring home the bad, 
or we can leave it and enrich ourselves 
with the good. In every beautiful song, 
in every good word, in every righteous 



HUNTING EXPEDITIONS 131 

deed, in every smile, there is something 
worth having, and we can take it if we 
will. 

Also, we can read bad literature and 
feast our minds upon the blood and 
tragedy of the daily press, or we can 
read good literature and be enriched by 
the noble deeds and beautiful sentiments 
in the current news. 

''Whatsoever things are true, what- 
soever things are honorable, whatsoever 
things are just, whatsoever things are 
pure, whatsoever things are lovely, what- 
soever things are of good report; if there 
be any virtue, and if there be any praise, 
think on these things.'^ 

The Bible is another forest of beauty, 
melody, grandeur — all more sublime than 
the whole of earth, sea and sky. This is 
the common hunting-ground in which all 
may roam and linger and rejoice. The 
musician can hunt in the Psalms, the 
artist in the imagery of Daniel and Rev- 
elation, the thinkers in the logic of 
Romans, the sentimentalist in Ruth, the 
poet in Job, the practical man in James 
and the Sermon on the Mount, and the 



132 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

tired one in the promises. No tempera- 
ment or state of mind need leave the 
Bible forests empty-handed. 

And the life of Jesus, presented in the 
Gospels, is a world, a heaven, a universe! 
In it we may wander all our days, and 
each turn we make will confront us with 
beauty and melody more sublime than we 
have hitherto seen or heard. It embodies 
all the good of earth and the majesty of 
heaven; it presents the perfection of 
manhood and the power of God. In this 
holy forest, youth may find hope; middle 
life, strength; and declining years, com- 
fort. 

Notwithstanding the trying circum- 
stances of this life, a rich hunting-ground 
is ever at hand. The Bible is never out 
of reach; humanity is everywhere about 
us, and nature is over and under and 
around us. Oh, the forests, the fields, 
the heavens, in which we may roam and 
seek and find! 



XV. 

COST AND REMUNERATION 

"Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath 
left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the 
gospel's, but he shall receive an hundredfold now in 
this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, 
and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the 
world to come eternal life."— Mark 10 : 29, 30. 

A literal interpretation of this pas- 
sage would make it ridiculous. Such 
comprehensive statements must be ap- 
plied in the light of the entire New Tes- 
tament message, and this light blends 
with that of common sense. The Master 
was pointing to the cost of the Christian 
profession and likewise its remuneration. 

The cost of nothing in the annals of 
history approximates that of the Chris- 
tian religion. 

It cost time and sacrifice and, in 
many instances, death upon the part of 
consecrated men who prepared the way 
for Christ in the ages preceding his 
advent. It cost the Saviour three years 

133 



134 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

of Strenuous, unappreciated service and 
his life on the cross. It cost the apostles 
their earthly ambitions and a number, 
probably all of them, their lives. It cost 
sacrifice, indescribable misery and wide- 
spread death in the first century. It cost 
millions of lives during the centuries of 
Roman persecution. And, in some coun- 
tries, it has cost life in our own day. 

The history of Christianity has been 
largely written in blood. It has been 
said that if all the blood shed in the es- 
tablishment and support of the Christian 
religion should be suddenly poured into 
the fountain-heads and all the bodies 
slain simultaneously scattered over the 
world, the rivers would run red and 
make the seas purple, the fish would die 
and pestilence would sweep away all life. 

Add to persecution, war and pesti- 
lence the privations, heartaches and 
death-agonies of the millions who have 
been loyal to their faith in times of 
stress, and the mind that attempts the 
contemplation will stagger beneath its 
burden. 

The church of the past, like the 



COST AND REMUNERATION 135 

church of to-day, was composed of people 
with sensitive nerves and tender hearts. 
Human flesh back in the centuries shrank 
from pain just as it does now. Liberty 
was as sweet, Hfe was as priceless and 
family ties were as precious then as now. 
Yet when situations called upon 
Christians of those afflicted times to 
choose between the dearest things of 
earth and their religion, they each looked 
up into the Saviour's face and said: 

"Go, then, earthly fame and treasure; 
Come, disaster, scorn and pain; 
In Thy service, pain is pleasure; 

With Thy favor, loss is gain. 
Man may trouble and distress me — 
'Twill but drive me to Thy breast; 
Life with trials hard may press me — 
Heaven will bring me sweeter rest." 

They knew their blood and anguish 
constituted the seed of the kingdom, and 
that they would bless and be blessed by 
all future generations. They enjoyed 
peace of conscience and rejoiced in their 
hope. Their reward was rich beyond 
calculation. Nothing is profitable that 
robs one of an approving conscience or 
the hope of glory. But anything that 
exalts an enlightened conscience and in- 



136 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

sures an eternal investment redeems 
whatever losses it may incur with an 
hundredfold interest. 

I shall not refer extensively to the 
monetary cost of Christianity, comprising 
voluntary contributions that can not be 
estimated, extended sacrifice upon the 
part of many and the wholesale confisca- 
tion of property history records. It is 
too insignificant to receive serious con- 
sideration in connection with the homes 
and happiness and liberty and lives that 
have been placed upon the altar. 

The Christian religion is still expen- 
sive, and it will be until there is no longer 
a dark corner in the earth nor an un- 
righteous impulse in the human heart. It 
is expensive because it is the world's 
Hfe; nothing is so costly as the mainte- 
nance of life. Innumerable sacrifices will 
yet be made and many lives will yet be 
surrendered in the name of Jesus. 

Salvation is free; its price is beyond 
earth's greatest purchasing power. But 
the religion which must daily testify to 
it and convey it to the uttermost parts 
of the earth is not free; it is, and should 



COST AND REMUNERATION 137 

be universally considered, the most ex- 
pensive thing in the world. 

''God is no respecter of persons." If 
he requires loyalty upon the part of some, 
he requires it of all. We live in an age, 
and especially in a country, of religious 
tolerance, and it is not probable that any 
of us will ever be called upon to die for 
the Master. However, the responsibility 
which rests upon the people of God to- 
day is just as great as was that which 
rested upon the church in past centuries. 
And responsibility is something no honest 
man or woman will shirk. 

J. G. Holland said: ^'Responsibility 
walks hand in hand with capacity and 
power." And Paul said: "It is accepted 
according to that a man hath, and not 
according to that he hath not." Where 
much is given, much is required, and 
where little is given, little is required. 
This is taught by the entire gospel mes- 
sage, and it is specifically set forth in the 
parable of the talents. 

Sacrifice is required of us, just as it 
was required at the hands of Jesus and 
his apostles and the martyrs. But when 



138 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

the word ''sacrifice'' is pronounced, we 
are apt to think of money. And we 
begin to have visions of self-denial, such 
as walking instead of riding on a street- 
car, wearing a last season's hat or doing 
without butter for a week. It is all 
child's play! The Lord's method of 
keeping his treasury filled is plainly stated 
by Paul: ''Upon the first day of the 
week, let each one of you lay by him in 
store as he may prosper." It is no sacri- 
fice for the loyal disciple of Christ to do 
this, and when giving at least a tenth of 
one's income to the Lord's work ''hurts," 
it is evidence that his religion is in need 
of repair. Under normal conditions, the 
self-denial of necessities or even luxuries 
is not required. But cheerful liberality 
is positively demanded. 

However, there are sacrifices every 
Christian must make. He must surren- 
der whatever has in it an element of sin, 
no matter how inviting its pleasures. He 
must give his time when it is necessary, 
no matter how inconvenient to do so. He 
must shoulder burdens, no matter how 
much they may interfere with his cher- 



COST AND REMUNERATION 139 

ished plans. He must throw the weight 
of his influence upon the side of any and 
every important question his conscience 
tells him is right, no matter what the 
cost to his business, reputation or mental 
comfort. 

Why should any conclude that they 
are exempt when the responsibility of 
bearing forward the principles of the 
gospel presents itself and insists upon 
the right of way? 

Many ask the question, in song, and 
look pious while doing it: 

"Must I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease, 
While others fought to win the prize 
And sailed through bloody seas?" 

Yet they shift to other shoulders the re- 
sponsibility that demands sacrifice. 

Not every one that heareth the gos- 
pel, and refraineth from the gross sins 
it condemns, shall be saved, but he that 
practices the religion he professes. 

And the reward of the righteous is 
certain. We have the unqualified prom- 
ise: ''Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
will give thee the crown of life.'' Also: 
''Godliness is profitable for all things, 



140 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

having promise of the Hfe which now is." 
Those who walk in harmony with the 
will of God are never destructive; the 
cause does not suffer as a consequence of 
their words, acts, attitudes or neglect of 
duty. They are constructive; their incli- 
nations, words and deeds are precious 
stones with which the cause they have 
espoused is adorned. And they are daily 
rewarded. In their hearts, the poem 
keeps singing: 

"Fve found the pearl of greatest price; 
My heart doth sing for joy; 
And sing I must, for Christ is mine — 
Christ shall my song employ." 



XVI. 

THE AMERICAN BALLOT 

"What is that in thine hand?"— Ex. 4:2. 

It was in March, 1775, that Patrick 
Henry electrified the Colonies and made 
bold their patriotism with his immortal 
utterance before the Provincial Conven- 
tion: ''Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, 
as to be purchased at the price of chains 
and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty! I 
know not what course others may take, 
but as for me, give me liberty or give 
me death V 

A long period stretches between that 
historic Virginia convention and our day. 
But its fiery oratory still rings in the 
land and holds spellbound all whose 
hearts throb in their country's progress. 

The war for independence terminated 
in glorious conquest, because the men of 
that time were informed, conscientious 
and brave. And since then the call has 
been repeatedly sent out for men of con- 

141 



142 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

viction and courage — a call ever respond- 
ed to with the patriotic shout, ''Liberty 
or death!" We memorialize our heroes 
of the past because they were men of 
sterling qualities, and they will be lifted 
up in bronze and granite until the end 
of time. 

"Yes, honor decks the turf that wraps their clay." 

Liberty ! Had Cowper lived in Amer- 
ica, he could have sung in strains more 
thrilling than were possible in his own 
country : 

'^Liberty, like day, 
Breaks on the soul, and, by a flash from heaven, 
Fires all its faculties with glorious joy!" 

Liberty is the word that stirs the 
American heart. It glitters in oration, 
essay and song. And Liberty stands 
erect with outstretched hand and high- 
held torch in New York harbor. 

Yet our beloved country is not 
free. And if any think the call to arms 
has ceased, their ears are muffled. It is 
not only in war that soldiers are in de- 
mand; the standing army is necessary in 
time of peace, and it is frequently pressed 
into strenuous service. 



THE AMERICAN BALLOT 143 

Emerson said: ''Liberty is a slow 
fruit." 

Our country has passed through near- 
ly a century and a half of eventful his- 
tory since the liberty-bell pealed forth its 
freedom. But it has never yet drawn a 
breath of absolute independence. The 
old bell was a prophet, and July 4, 1776, 
it predicted the full-orbed emancipation 
toward which optimistic patriotism still 
looks. 

"Freedom's battle, once begun, 
Bequeathed by bleeding sire to son, 
Tho* baffled oft, is ever won." 

Oppressive systems of finance, graft, 
political chicanery, the unholy ambitions 
of a never-sleeping hierarchy, the gam- 
bling mania, the social evil and rum are 
enemies that must be conquered before 
Whittier's song can be put into the rec- 
ords and commissioned to make glad the 
hearts of the people: 

"And lo ! the fullness of the time has come, 
And over all the exile's Western home, 
From sea to sea the flowers of freedom bloom!" 

It is no time to sheathe the sword. 
The brave may not yet break rank. 

" War, war !' is still the cry; *war even to the knife.' " 
10 



144 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

Deserters there were when the Revo- 
lution was on, in 1812, at the Mexican 
border, during the four black years of 
civil strife and in the conflict with Spain. 
And deserters there are to-day. In the 
past, deserters were regarded as unwor- 
thy the name ''American/' And they 
should be so regarded now. 

The deserters of our day are the men 
who, for business reasons, political pres- 
tige or blind partyism, vote for men and 
measures that stand in the way of real 
progress. And to the unenviable list 
might be added the men who are too in- 
dififerent on election-day to register their 
protest against the conditions that curse 
our fair land. Patriots always vote, at 
whatever personal inconvenience or sac- 
rifice. 

One of the most hopeful signs of the 
times is the gradual disappearance of the 
party-loyalty spirit. The time was when 
every Democrat or Republican voted his 
party ticket, no matter by whom it was 
manned or what policy it advocated. But 
the "stand-patter" is no longer the rage. 
Now, there are Democrats and Repub- 



THE AMERICAN BALLOT 145 

licans in every locality (and may their 
tribe increase) who hesitate not, when 
occasion demands, to split their ticket, 
and quite frequently, when objectionable 
as a whole, they bolt it altogether. They 
are the big men of their parties. But 
there are others in every community who 
tower above even these — the men who 
are in nowise party-bound. The inde- 
pendent vote, the country over, is already 
a problem that greatly perplexes the 
politicians. 

And why should there be any other 
than independent voters? Political par- 
ties are mere tools with which to accom- 
plish results. And as the mechanic uses 
the tool or tools most adapted to a given 
task, the citizen should employ the party 
or parties that will cut the keenest and 
turn out the most desirable legislation. 
It is not necessary, therefore, to confine 
one's vote to a single party. There are 
times when every ticket before the public 
can be engaged, in part, just as there 
are times when all the tools in a mechan- 
ic's shop are used in the manufacture of 
a single article. Every man should real- 



146 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

ize that he owns all the parties. But 
no man should be slave enough to admit 
that he is owned by any party under the 
sun. 

'Investigation" is fast becoming the 
campaign watchword. And it is well. 
No man has the moral right to do an- 
other's thinking, nor has any one the 
moral right to let another do his think- 
ing for him. In this age of easy informa- 
tion, it is not at all difficult for the man 
of least learning or hardest toil to keep 
himself posted regarding men and issues. 

The political conscience is likewise an 
asset which must be developed in our 
national life. The double standard — one 
side regulating daily life and the other 
the ballot — has too long prevailed. The 
man who votes contrary to his judgment 
should not be permitted to enjoy a clear 
conscience, no matter how regularly he 
attends church, reads the Bible and says 
his prayers. Hence the gospel of con- 
science at the polls should be proclaimed 
from the housetops. When all who appre- 
ciate an approving conscience are made 
to realize that it is as great a crime to be 



THE AMERICAN BALLOT 147 

dishonest with one's country as it is to 
defraud a neighbor or rob the mission- 
ary-box, the poUtical wire-pullers will 
find it more difficult than they do now to 
swing an election in the interest of un- 
scrupulous corporations and selfish office- 
seekers. 

And courage. Without doubt, many 
shrink from supporting unpopular meas- 
ures or opposing popular candidates for 
fear of ridicule or reproach. And others 
vote against their convictions to retain 
business or professional prestige. In 
either case, cowardice has played its 
hand. Yet these same men put on a bold 
front and pretend that they are brave! 

"How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false 
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins 
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars, 
Who, inward searched, have livers white as milk?'* 

Information, conviction and courage 
— the three virtues that will gild the 
Revolution for all time — must illuminate 
the patriotism which is to triumphantly 
lead our country against its foes. 

Ours is a government ^'of the people, 
for the people and by the people." The 



148 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

sovereignty of this country is the will 
of its hundred million inhabitants. Our 
citizenship occupies a throne and wears 
a crown, and in its hand is the regal 
scepter — the American ballot. 

''Old Glory" is the emblem of liberty 
— the liberty that forbids oppression of 
every kind. And '' 'neath the folds of the 
red, white and blue'' the campaign 
against wrong will be unceasingly waged 
until every institution and every man, 
woman and child shall enjoy the noblest 
freedom earth will ever know. 

**When Freedom from her mountain height 
Unfurled her standard to the air, 
She tore the azure robe of night, 

And set the stars of glory there. 
She mingled with its gorgeous dyes 
The milky baldric of the skies, 
And striped its pure, celestial white 
With streakings of the morning light. 

*Tlag of the free heart's hope and home! 

By angel hands to valor given; 
Thy stars have lit the welkin dome. 

And all thy hues were born in heaven. 
Forever float that standard sheet! 

Where breathes the foe but falls before us, 
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?" 



XVII. 
THE IMMORTALITY OF THIS LIFE 

'If a man die, shall he live again?" — ^Job 14: 14. 

'The Immortality of the Soul" is the 
theme this text usually introduces. But, 
though interesting to contemplate, it will 
not enlist our attention upon the present 
occasion. The Bible affirms, and with it 
science agrees, that man lives after hav- 
ing passed through the dissolution we 
call death. But neither Scripture nor 
science describes life beyond the tomb, 
and speculations concerning it are there- 
fore fantastic and profitless. ^'Secret 
things belong to the Lord our God/' and 
life within the veil is one of them. In 
our sermons and songs we are inclined 
to give more attention to heaven than to 
earth, whereas the earth-life should ab- 
sorb our thought and energy: God will 
look after our eternal interests. 

^The Immortality of This Life" will, 
therefore, be the topic for our present 

149 



150 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

consideration. And as the subject pri- 
marily respects time, we shall regard the 
term ''immortar' in the sense expressed 
by the synonyms ''perpetual" and ''im- 
perishable/' 

Paul wrote: "None of us liveth to 
himself." Samuel Johnson put it in an- 
other way: "Neither our virtues nor 
vices are all our own." And Tennyson 
added: "I am a part of all that I have 
met." Against the great fact they state, 
there is no argument — all admit it. 

The bad, as well as the good, live in 
the lives they touch and likewise in the 
centuries that roll by after their decease. 
This is the dark side of the subject, and 
it has put pessimism into much of our 
literature, especially poetry. But we will 
turn from it and look at the side on 
which the sun shines. 

"The career of a great man remains 
an enduring monument of human energy. 
The man dies and disappears, but his 
thoughts and acts survive and leave an 
indelible stamp upon his race." In this 
sublime statement, Smiles comprehends 
the finest thought of the ages respecting 



IMMORTALITY OF THIS LIFE 151 

the development of human character. 
And when to it is added Emerson's su- 
perb Hne, ''Every thought which genius 
and piety throw into the world alters the 
world/' the necessity for lives that 
uplift insists upon its prerogative. 

The world in all its departments re- 
tains men, long dead, who move among 
and speak to the living and with whom 
each generation enjoys an intimate ac- 
quaintance. 

Socrates sits in the study and con- 
verses with the student; Knox still prays 
for Scotland; Henry and Clay and Web- 
ster are now on the platform; Lincoln is 
in our councils of state; Brady is yet 
pleading for a closer American brother- 
hood; and Beecher preaches with eloquent 
tongue. 

Martin Luther lives wherever per- 
sonal responsibility to God is proclaimed; 
John Wesley lives wherever heartfelt 
religion is advocated; and Alexander 
Campbell lives wherever Christian union 
IS urged. 

Will Edison ever pass, or Francis E. 
Clark, or Booker T. Washington? They 



152 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

will die, yet they will live. The wizard 
of East Orange will live in chandelier 
and machine-shop and musical instru- 
ment until time shall be no more. The 
New England enthusiast will live in 
religious movements until earth's last 
inhabitant shall have been trained to 
serve the King. And the black educator 
will live in his race when it shouts an- 
thems of deliverance in the Alpine heights 
of prosperity and culture. 

Not long after the Civil War, a young 
man and his wife founded a college over 
which they still preside — a college whose 
atmosphere has ever been spiritual as 
well as intellectual. They reside in a 
Tennessee village, but they live in a 
thousand places. Though invisible, they 
are here this morning, and they are to- 
day standing before multiplied congrega- 
tions throughout the land. They likewise 
live in business, profession and trade. 
They are now nearing the sunset, and 
soon the burdens so faithfully borne will 
be dropped by the wayside. But they 
will live on and on — amid the Tennessee 
hills, in pulpit and schoolroom, in count- 



IMMORTALITY OF THIS LIFE 153 

ing-house and shop, in mansion and hovel 
— and their Uves will expand until they 
touch and make more rapid the world's 
progress in every highway on the globe. 
Dryden was mistaken when he wrote: 

"Like pilgrims to th* appointed place we tend ; 
The world's an inn, and death the journey's end." 

And likewise was Young when he 
dolefully sang: 

"Why all this toil for triumphs of an hour? 
What tho' we wade in wealth, or soar in fame? 
Earth's highest station ends in 'Here he lies'; 
And *Dust to dust' concludes her noblest song." 

Nor should we conclude that only 
those whose names are household words 
live in the ever-expanding life of the 
world. It is not manly or womanly to 
say: ''Were I wealthy or learned or 
placed under different circumstances, I 
might make an impression that would 
bless the present and the generations to 
come." 

The same law that reproduces the 
majestic oak reproduces the tiny plant 
at its feet; the same law that causes the 
Niagara River to plunge over the high 
rock causes the little mountain brook to 
fall over the unpretentious ledge. And 



154 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

human life is nature's parallel. All, both 
great and small, move under one law. 

If you have ever watched a school of 
fish, you observed that it comprised a 
variety of sizes and that all moved in 
one direction and together. Perchance 
you were most interested in the largest, 
and the smallest may have entirely es- 
caped your notice. Nevertheless, the tiny 
fish were a part of the school. 

Is it a reflection on the human race 
to say that in schools of fish there is a 
delineation of the moving world? Evil 
agencies, great and small, move in the 
same direction and together, and in like 
manner do the agencies of righteousness. 

Only a few of the Revolutionists are 
remembered by name; the names of only 
a few were known when the long marches 
were made and the hard battles were 
fought. However, the unknown men 
marched with Washington, they are 
marching with him now, and with him 
they will march through the centuries 
to be. 

Luther and a few others of the early 
Reformation are seen to-day, and they 



IMMORTALITY OF THIS LIFE 155 

alone were conspicuous in those tragic 
times. But thousands, just as loyal and 
brave, walked beside the great reformer, 
and beside him they are walking down 
through time. 

Great movements are now in prog- 
ress. But comparatively few are in the 
limelight, and history will record only 
their names. Yet each of these move- 
ments comprises an army of men and 
women, true and courageous, all keeping 
step with the leaders, and together they 
will move through future ages. 

If, like the young prophet's, our eyes 
could be opened, we would exclaim: ^'Be- 
hold the mighty hosts that have come 
out of the past! How determined their 
countenances, erect their forms and elas- 
tic their step!" 

They are marching in the world's 
progress — the true and noble of both 
the immediate and the remote past. 
Gideon we know, but the three hundred 
with him can not be introduced by name. 
Yet they are as stalwart and good to look 
upon as their illustrious commander. And 
in the wonderful procession there are 



156 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

marching armies, great and small, whose 
commanders, even, history has forgotten 
to record. But these soldiers are as in- 
trepid and knightly as the heroes that are 
perpetuated in marble and brass, and 
their armors flash with increasing splen- 
dor in the light that grows brighter each 
passing year. 

Think not that only the famous live 
after they are dead. Future life in this 
world — life that will inspire the coming 
generations — is for all who will have it. 

"Lives of great men all remind us 
We can make our lives sublime ; 
And, departing, leave behind us 
Footprints on the sands of time." 

After all, the life that counts for 
most is filled with duties sought and con- 
scientiously performed, though it be un- 
pretentious and unapplauded. The hermit 
does not really live in either his own 
day or the future. Life emanates from 
God, and to have it one must be in con- 
stant touch with him. God walks in the 
movements that advance the life of the 
world, and if we walk with him we must 
be identified with the agencies that pro- 
mote universal culture. 



IMMORTALITY OF THIS LIFE 157 

"The Parish Priest of Austerity 
Climbed up in the high church steeple 

To be nearer God, 
So that he might hand his word down 
To the people. 

"And in sermon script he daily wrote 
What he thought was sent from heaven; 

And he dropped it down 
On the people's heads two times 

One day in seven. 

"In his age God said : 'Come down and die/ 
And he cried out from the steeple : 

*Where art thou, Lord?' 
And the Lord replied: 'Down here 

Among my people.' " 

The truly great are the wide-awake, 
conscientious, active men and women who 
are content, if it be necessary, to suffer, 
and they will reign with the King of 
kings in the world's Golden Age. 



XVIII. 
REPLENISHING THE FIRES 

"Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out." — 
Prov. 26 : 20. 

Some years ago, the president of a 
liquor-dealers' association was reported 
to have said at an annual gathering of 
his kind: ''We must look after the young 
men/' From the business viewpoint of 
the liquor traffic, his advice was logical. 
The old drinkers are fast consumed, and 
fresh logs must be laid on the rum fire 
or it will go out. 

And the same may be said of every 
evil institution — it must be fed or it will 
perish. Even base passions subside when 
not encouraged. The fires of hell, what- 
ever their nature, can not blaze without 
fuel. 

But it is not my purpose to dwell 
upon the fires of iniquity. Under cer- 
tain conditions, ''fire must be fought with 
fire." And when the fires of righteous- 

158 



REPLENISHING THE FIRES 159 

ness shall have filled the earth, the fires 
of evil will lack attention and die out. 

The principle enunciated by the prov- 
erb applies in every capacity of human 
interest. The business that is neglected, 
runs down, and likewise does the prac- 
tice of law or medicine. The preacher 
whose sermons are yellow with age will 
not tarry long at a place, the out-of-date 
teacher will not be sought, nor will the 
writer with yesterday's pen be widely 
read. No fire can burn long without 
fresh fuel. 

The faithful pursuit of an occupation 
is important, and honest efforts to suc- 
ceed are commendable. 

Of success, Shakespeare wrote: 

"'Tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wish'd." 

And Emerson added: 

"One thing is forever good; 
That one thing is success." 

But success is neither the mere ac- 
cumulation of wealth nor the acquisition 
of fame or prestige. Some of the most 
unsuccessful men in the world are among 

the wealthy and famous and influential. 
11 



160 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

Wealth or fame or power, without self- 
control or the development of the noblest 
soul qualities, is the extreme opposite of 
a blessing. The living must be made, but 
even it is only a means to an end. What 
the world calls success is but a vehicle 
sent to convey us into the open, flower- 
bordered, fragrant fields of real living. 
And that the soul may enjoy the elysium 
appointed it in this world, its loftiest fac- 
ulties must be intensely active. But if 
neglected, the essential fires within burn 
out and the life grows cold and uninter- 
esting. 

Does the intellectual fire crackle and 
cheer? Or is it burning low because the 
grate has in it only embers — the remains 
of sticks put on in public school or col- 
lege? How many books of worth have 
been read within the year? What kind 
of current literature is on the center- 
table? How recent the occasion that 
spread an intellectual feast? And is 
sufficient time snatched from life's stren- 
uous pursuits to aflford the luxury of real 
thinking? Books and periodicals and an 
annual family ticket to the best lyceum 



REPLENISHING THE FIRES 161 

are of more value than an excess of 
property or money hoarded. These are 
essential tools with which to carve out 
character, and they should be had at any 
sacrifice. They incite thought, and 
thought — if it be high pitched and ap- 
plied — covers the tree of life with blos- 
som and fruit. Said Hazlitt: ''Great 
thoughts reduced to practice become great 
acts." And Emerson said: ''Thought 
takes man out of servitude into freedom." 
Without serious, discerning meditation, 
one can not properly adjust himself to 
the circumstances and issues among 
which he moves. And life out of con- 
nection with its time is vain. 

The aesthetic nature is likewise im- 
portant. The soul must respond to the 
beauty, grandeur and melody of nature 
and to human art also, or it will be 
coarse, unprofitable as a world asset, and 
poor. All can not own or see pictures or 
feast their eyes upon the world's exquisite 
treasures, nor can all be thrilled by the 
richest strains of human voice. But all 
can come into at least meager touch with 
the arts. And none, outside the walls of 



162 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

incarceration, are so poor or unfortu- 
nately located that they can not look 
upon nature's paintings and listen to her 
songs. 

"Mark the matchless workings of the power 
That shuts within its seed the future flower; 
Bids these in elegance of form excel, 
In color these, and those delight the smell; 
Sends Nature forth, the daughter of the skies, 
To dance on earth, and charm all human eyes." 

Also, the heart must throb in sym- 
pathy with the world as it staggers be- 
neath its burdens, if life is to accomplish 
its purpose. I knew a man — intellectual 
and aesthetically inclined — of whom it was 
said: ''His heart is dead.'' In other 
words, love and sympathy did not blaze 
in his soul. 

But there is another element in the 
successful life which I wish this message 
to emphasize, and it embraces the heart 
nature. As a matter of fact, it is de- 
signed to comprehend all human faculties, 
propensities, aspirations and purposes, 
and to keep them in sacred line. Neither 
emolument, intellectual attainment nor 
artistic accomplishment completes the soul 
nature — nor do all combined. There is 



REPLENISHING THE FIRES 163 

a human need to which neither earth nor 
sky can respond. Man is by nature a 
rehgious creature, whether he admits it 
or not, and rehgion alone satisfies his 
soul hunger. Hence God, who is guiding 
the destinies of the race, developed a 
system of religion which reached its 
perfection at Pentecost. Since then, 
Jesus the Christ has been proclaimed. 
And an apostle affirms : ''Ye are complete 
in him.'' 

And religion has its fires that must 
be daily replenished, three of which de- 
mand special emphasis — Bible study, 
prayer and worship. 

^'Every scripture inspired of God is 
also profitable for teaching, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in right- 
eousness: that the man of God may be 
complete, furnished completely unto every 
good work.'^ ''Give diligence to present 
thyself approved unto God, a workman 
that needeth not to be ashamed, handling 
aright the word of truth.'' 

Paul was writing to a young preacher. 
But no one will say that the message Is 
not for one and all. 



164 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

Also, such passages as 'Tray without 
ceasing/' and ''Not forsaking our own 
assembUng together as the custom of 
some is, but exhorting one another,'' are 
sent forth to stimulate the private and 
public devotions of all Christians. 

Unless these fires are kept aglow, the 
heart grows chill and the Christian pro- 
fession is mockery. 

But the man who reads the Bible, 
prays and attends church, with no object 
other than his own salvation in view is 
not an artist at fire-building. Such an 
one always finds the Bible an uninterest- 
ing book, prayer irksome and church a 
bore. These fires decline to receive logs 
of selfishness into their flaming embrace, 
and when no other wood is piled on they 
go out. The gospel has been too long 
confined to ^'personal salvation." The 
selfish spirit still prevails. Therefore, 
dust-covered Bibles, silent closets and 
empty churches should not excite our 
wonder. 

Joseph Joubert touched the right but- 
ton when he proclaimed: "Religion is a 
fire which example keeps alive, and which 



REPLENISHING THE FIRES 165 

goes out if not communicated/' And this 
great truth should ring from every pulpit 
and platform: it is the one message our 
self -aggrandizing age needs. 

Religion can be communicated only 
through service. Service alone exempli- 
fies the spirit of the Master, and his 
spirit must permeate the very fiber of 
the fuel or the fire will not burn. 

^Take my name off the church regis- 
ter/* requested a young man of his min- 
ister. ^Tve lost interest in religion, and 
I do not wish to be a hypocrite any 
longer. '' 

''Very well," acquiesced the minister. 
''But,'' he added, "I can't take the time 
to get the record for an hour or two; 
I'm loaded down with some correspond- 
ence to answer. And, by the way, if you 
are not pressed for time, would you do 
me the favor to call at No. 10^ Cum- 
berland Street and tell the lady I'll not 
be able to investigate her case before 
to-morrow? I've just received a note, 
requesting me to call; it's a case of 
charity." 

''With pleasure," answered the young 



166 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

man, feeling very much relieved by the 
assurance that he was to be no longer 
bound by a religion which, to him, was 
only an empty formality. 

He found a lady ill in bed and several 
small children crying from hunger and 
cold. His heart was touched. He imme- 
diately procured fuel and made a fire. 
Then he brought supplies and watched 
the ravenous children satisfy their hun- 
ger. After the ministration, he assured 
the sick woman that her situation would 
be looked after, and departed. Back to 
the minister's house he briskly walked. 
Bounding in, he commanded : ''Don't take 
my name off the church book; I've 
changed my mind." 

When he kindled the fire in that 
dreary home he rekindled the fire in his 
own soul. 



XIX. 
A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION 

"We Spend our years as a tale that is told." — Ps. 90 : 9. 

*'The wave is breaking on the shore, 

The echo fading from the chime — 
Again the shadow moveth o'er 
The dial-plate of time." 

We would not stay the stride of time 
if we could. Unless we are abnormal, 
our inclination is forward to meet what- 
ever the future may introduce. The mere 
thought of recalling and again passing 
through an hour of either joy or pain 
would be out of harmony with the pro- 
gressive plan upon which human nature 
is constructed. Our hopes for future 
happiness fit into the plan of life per- 
fectly, but the wish for a return of an 
experience in the past can find no niche 
in which to rest, because it is unnatural. 

The world goes on, taking with it the 
strength of its generations and successes 
and failures, but leaving them behind. 
And the wise man goes on, taking with 

167 



168 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

him the essence of his experiences, but 
leaving them by the wayside. Paul de- 
clared that he forgot the past and pressed 
toward the future. Since the year now 
closing was rung in a few brief months 
ago, we have both laughed and wept. 
But what folly to linger back, either 
upon the summits or in the vales! The 
past should not interfere with the present. 

Like many other elastic statements, 
the text is capable of a variety of appli- 
cations. But I wish, on this occasion, to 
simply regard life as a story we are each 
relating to our friends or writing for 
others to read. 

A poet sang: 

"I am : how little more I know ! 
Whence came I? Whither do I go? 
A central self, which feels and is; 
A cry between the silences; 
A shadow-birth of clouds at strife 
With sunshine on the hills of life; 
A shaft from Nature's quiver cast 
Into the future from the past; 
Between the cradle and the shroud, 
A meteor's flight from cloud to cloud." 

And James asks the question: ''What 
is your Hfe?" Then he writes down the 
answer: ''Ye are a vapor that appeareth 



A NEW YEAR'S MEDITATION 169 

for a little time, and then vanisheth 
away/' 

The threescore and tenth year is the 
age-limit set by the Psalmist. But the 
majority never reach that milestone. And 
the few who do tell us their years have 
passed swiftly by. 

However, it is not the length of a 
story that makes it worth reading. The 
greatest stories of the ages are the New 
Testament parables. And the greatest 
life earth will ever have known covered 
a period of only thirty-three years. Also, 
Drummond and others whose names are 
everywhere familiar died young, but they 
left great life-stories for the world to 
read. 

There are three kinds of stories — 
those that are uninteresting, those that 
are interesting but bad, and those that 
are both interesting and good. 

The lives of many are so prosy that 
none are thrilled by them. Other lives 
attract and hold attention, but they are 
always so near the brink of impropriety 
that their influence is debasing. But 
there are lives — and they are perhaps 



170 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

more numerous than we think — that both 
interest and upHft the pubUc. 

Which kind of story are we each 
ambitious to write? 

Were I a noveUst, I think I should 
strive to make my stories increasingly 
interesting and elevating and to have 
them end in a way that would afford the 
reader a victorious feeling. The story 
that loses ground after the first few chap- 
ters or ends in tragedy for the hero and 
gives the reader a feeling of defeat is 
a failure. 

Climax distinguishes every life that 
is true to its purpose. Each year is a 
chapter which contains not only new nar- 
rative, but the experience and wisdom 
and culture of all the preceding chapters. 
Such is the life-story the world has a 
right to demand of every man and 
woman. 

The final chapter should be the best. 
If old age is reached, it can and should 
be a benediction upon the middle-aged 
and the young. Whatever the circum- 
stances, it is not the prerogative of any 
man or woman to make life uncomfort- 



A NEW YEARNS MEDITATION 171 

able for others. I once knew a lady — 
old, widowed, poor and blind — whose 
sweet disposition was remarked by all 
who met her. It is not necessary to add 
that she did not lack attention from 
either adult or child. She was writing 
the final chapter of her story, and the 
sunshine she poured into its pages both 
held and helped her readers. 

'The End." This phrase is frequently 
added by the publisher. In Psalm 116 
there is a statement which conveys a 
great thought, and it should be the clos- 
ing line of every life-book: 'Trecious in 
the sight of the Lord is the death of his 
saints.'^ 

And the after impressions. If a story 
gets a hold upon one, it absorbs his atten- 
tion for hours, and perhaps days, after 
he has finished it; he lingers amid its 
adventures. If it is a bad story, it either 
depresses him or degrades his inclina- 
tions; if it is good, it gives him wings 
with which to soar. 

The world, also, thinks for a time 
upon the life that is just finished. If it 
has been bad, the after impressions are 



172 PUSHING THE WORLD ALONG 

as gall to the taste. But if it has been 
good, the impressions left are pleasing 
and uplifting. 

The selfish, ugly life curses the com- 
munity in which it is spent long after its 
apparent close. But the unselfish, beauti- 
ful, useful life lingers as an unfading sun- 
beam in the memory of relatives, friends 
and neighbors, and its influence is per- 
petual in the progress of righteousness. 

THE END. 



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